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IPC Systems today announced the deployment of their best-selling Unigy unified trading communications platform to the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD).

“We are excited to implement Unigy within our infrastructure to realize the business advantages provided by the scalable hardware and centralized management solutions while lowering our overall operating costs,” said Mr. Robert Smith, Deputy SGM Global Financial Markets & GM Trading and Investments, Trading Floor, NBAD. “The migration from our old system was smooth, and the domestic installation and support will help us expand our presence within our markets.”

The business continuity planning system has been implemented in the bank’s Abu Dhabi headquarters and in their Dubai offices, with a total of 111 positions across their two front-room sites. This makes NBAD the first bank in the UAE to deploy Unigy reinforcing their technological leadership and enabling them to react quickly using the industry’s most advanced trading communications platform.

“Our deployment of the Unigy system includes two back room data centers, including one specifically designated for data recovery.  A third back room data center was also put in place, giving us further protection in case of a complete loss of the others, providing a future-proof solution for business continuity planning,” said Mr. Jamal Abboud, Head – Business Services, IT Department , NBAD. “This project was domestically handled by Rashed Al Makhawi Enterprises (RAME) – a leading solutions provider in the Middle East. Their approach and detailed progress reports helped reassure us throughout the project delivery. We are satisfied with their execution and responsiveness”.

NBAD’s Unigy implementation will help keep them resilient in case of any data connection interruption and will help improve the bank’s current efficiency and productivity. IPC Systems, as a leading provider of trading communications, will be able to support the bank locally because of its global positioning.

“We are very proud to have been selected to install this system for NBAD to help transform their trading workflow,” added Mr. Vivek Raghavan, General Manager, Rashed Al Makhawi Enterprises. “Our team of skilled field engineers and highly trained technicians provide support online, on-site and over the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to help our clients run at peak efficiency. Our strong partnership with IPC helps us offer this exemplary aftersales service and support.”

 

“We are excited that the National Bank of Abu Dhabi has chosen Unigy for its business continuity needs,” said Mark Miller, Vice President, Product Management for IPC. “Our ultimate goal is to provide customers with the tools and technologies they need to succeed in an increasingly competitive environment. We will continue to work to meet the diverse needs of our financial customers in this region and around the world to deliver not only technology but also the highest standard of customer care.”

Unigy is IPC’s revolutionary unified trading communications and applications platform. The Unigy platform’s open standards and service oriented architecture (SOA) help streamline trading workflows, create custom apps for a competitive edge, reduce operational risks and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for firms of all sizes.

About IPC

IPC offers high- and low-touch trading communications solutions to the global financial trading community including the top investment banks, hedge funds and investment managers in established and emerging markets. With a 100-percent focus on this sector and nearly 40 years of expertise and an unrivaled record of innovation, IPC provides customers with unified solutions that support collaborative voice trading and real-time electronic trading and market data connectivity.  IPC’s offerings include the first unified communications/application platform, award-winning hard and soft turrets, electronic connectivity services including enhanced voice services, business continuity solutions, and follow-the-sun service and support. IPC’s global reach extends to nearly 60 countries – including a financial extranet of 4,000 on-net locations in over 700 cities and more than 115,000 turrets deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions. For more information, visit www.ipc.com.

About National Bank of Abu Dhabi

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), The Number One Bank in UAE, was incorporated in 1968 and is listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), under stock code (NBAD). Ranked as one of the top 50 safest banks in the world, NBAD currently operates across 13 countries on four continents. NBAD has a network of more than 110 branches and 430 ATMs in the UAE in addition to cash offices that are spread out in remote locations to provide banking services to customers all over the UAE. Besides brick & mortar branches, NBAD provides 24 hour internet banking access through NbadOnline and NbadDirect, the SMS-based payment service (Arrow) as well as account access and personalised customer support through its 24-hour Call Centre.

NBAD’s overseas network stretches from Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain in the G.C.C.; Egypt, Libya, and Sudan in Africa; UK, France, and Switzerland in Europe; Hong Kong and Jordan in Asia to Washington, D.C. in the U.S.A. Overall, NBAD has nearly 50 branches and 60 ATMs outside the UAE. NBAD provides its customers with a wide variety of financial services targeting all segments of the consumer and corporate markets. NBAD is rated senior long term/short term A+/A-1 by Standard and Poor’s, Aa3/P1 by Moody’s and AA-/F1+ by Fitch giving it one of the strongest combined rating of any Middle Eastern financial institution. Committed to the service of the UAE society, NBAD has a written Corporate Social Responsibility Mission, which forms an important element of the Bank’s overall strategy.

About Rashed Al Makhawi Enterprises

Rashed Al Makhawi Enterprises L.L.C (RAME), headquartered in Dubai, has over a decade’s experience as a leading, trusted and well known mission-critical technology solutions provider in the Middle East region. Its core domain expertise lies in the sectors of banking and financial services, contact centres, telecoms, oil & gas companies and public safety organizations. With a strong focus on delighting the customer every time, RAME’s solutions are backed-up with unmatched after-sales support and service which is a benchmark in the industry. The company has its own in-house dedicated, qualified, factory trained and certified technical team which works on a 24×7 basis. It has also become the preferred and exclusive partner for various category majors.

IPC Systems, Inc., a leading provider of trading communications solutions to the world’s top financial services firms, has won two categories in the Waters Rankings 2013. This is IPC’s ninth straight year with a win in the Waters Rankings, having been named “Best Network Provider” for the first time and having won the “Best Trading Turret Provider” from 2005 to 2010 and the “Best Trading Floor Communication System Provider” category in 2011 and 2012.

“It is truly an honor to receive a double recogntion by industry leaders and experts as both the best trading floor communications system provider and best network provider,” Michael Speranza, senior vice president, Global Product Management, IPC, said. “Our vast customer community has truly confirmed that they value our innovative technology and dedicated service in meeting their demanding needs.”

IPC’s Financial Markets Network (FMN) comprehensive suite of mission-critical managed network services  designed and operated for global financial markets. It facilitates more than one trillion dollars of capital markets trading commerce daily and enables the complete trade lifecycle across all asset classes. The FMN includes voice and data connectivity solutions including private wires, financial extranet cloud, managed VPN, Ethernet services, transport solutions and colocation.

Unigy, IPC’s revolutionary unified trading communications platform, speeds collaboration between traders and the trade support teams across middle and back offices with unprecedented flexibility, scalability, and adaptability. Unigy’s interoperability allows it to work with existing systems such as IQ/MAX turrets, PBX phone systems and voice recording equipment to help trading firms of every size transform their workflow, making traders significantly more productive and their operations much more profitable.

“For the last decade_, Waters_ magazine has turned to its expert reader base to determine which vendors lead in their respective fields for the annual Waters Rankings. For the past nine years, Waters _readers have selected IPC as Best Trading Turret Provider and Best Trading Floor Communication System and have now added Best Network Provider to IPC’s honors,” said Anthony Malakian, US editor, _Waters.

 

“Our primary goal is to provide our customers with top-of-the-line technology that grants them a competitive advantage in every stage of the trading lifecycle,” said IPC’s Speranza. “We strive to help our customers do their jobs more quickly, effectively and efficiently.  Winning both the trading communications and network awards reinforces our commitment to continued growth and the development of cutting edge solutions that meet their collaboration and trading needs.”

The Waters Rankings are the annual readers’ choice awards of Waters magazine, which recognize the combined leadership of technological capabilities and human expertise in each category. Qualified voters hail from buy- and sell-side firms as well as exchanges and brokerages. More than 1,000 voters chose the best financial IT solution and services in the annual Waters Rankings.

About Waters

Each month, Waters reports and analyzes the practical implementation of financial technology in the wholesale banking and securities industries. Since its launch in 1993, financial IT professionals worldwide have relied on the magazine for its focused, in-depth coverage of financial market data and technology as well as the human issues of talent management, staff retention and compensation within the financial services community. With more than 10,000 subscribers, _Waters _readers enjoy the insights of CIOs and CTOs from the global capital markets. Waters is published by Incisive Media Plc. For more information, please visit www.watersonline.com and www.incisivemedia.com.

About IPC

IPC offers high- and low-touch trading communications solutions to the global financial trading community including the top investment banks, hedge funds and investment managers in established and emerging markets. With a 100-percent focus on this sector and nearly 40 years of expertise and an unrivaled record of innovation, IPC provides customers with unified solutions that support collaborative voice trading and real-time electronic trading and market data connectivity.  IPC’s offerings include the first unified communications/application platform, award-winning hard and soft turrets, electronic connectivity services including enhanced voice services, business continuity solutions, and follow-the-sun service and support. IPC’s global reach extends to nearly 60 countries – including a financial extranet of 5,000 on-net locations in over 700 cities and more than 115,000 turrets deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions.

IT departments in financial firms say they are failing to understand the needs of today’s trader, according to a survey examining the relationship between the IT department and the trader, conducted by IPC Systems.  More than half of IT professionals surveyed said their departments did not completely understand traders’ needs.  Furthermore, just 38% of them said they felt they meet the needs of traders or the trading group very well.  Traders surveyed agree with that assessment with 55% saying that IT did not understand their needs completely.

IPC surveyed more than 120 IT professionals and traders during TradeTech in London in March.  Nearly 60% of IT respondents were management-level executives. Traders surveyed represented a wide-range of financial services including asset management, broker/dealers, proprietary trading, exchanges and hedge funds.  Slightly more than half focused primarily on equities trading, but all major asset classes were represented including bonds, commodities, derivatives and foreign exchange.

The admitted lack of understanding exists despite the survey finding that 93% of IT respondents said their groups hold regular meetings with traders to inform them of potential and emerging new technologies. In addition, the issue has not affected traders’ view on the impact of technology: 100% of traders surveyed said technological changes have had a positive impact on trading.

“While traders say they are certainly seeing the benefits of technology, it is worrying that there is a recognised lack of understanding between these two groups,” Simon Jones, Director of Product Marketing at IPC, said. “Such a disconnect can put firms at a disadvantage, something the survey respondents recognize. According to the survey, both groups believe technology is increasingly important to help deliver competitive advantage and minimise risk for trading firms. The call to action for companies in this industry is to create working environments that enable real-time collaboration on solving business problems.”

Other key findings from the IPC survey include:

• Technology has been a boon to traders…
• 85% of traders say that technology has increased trading efficiency
• 87% reporting increased earnings potential as a result of technological changes
• 88% said technology has increased system reliability
• But it comes with a price
• 86% of traders say  they have experienced increased performance expectations
• 77% report increased job stress levels
• 82% reporting increases in pace or volume of trades
• 84% reporting increased dependence on IT support as a result of technological changes

“It’s not surprising that technological improvements are seen by traders as a double-edged sword, and we are increasingly seeing firms looking for ways to address the issues of increased pace and stress bear watching because of the potential to negatively impact  traders’ performance,” IPC’s Simon Jones said.

According to Jones, there has been a growing emphasis on applying technology to help make traders more efficient rather than simply focusing on the trading work flow. “The human element is still a critical part of trading and technology is now being applied to help traders deal more effectively and efficiently with the faster pace and increased volume in today’s trading environment,” Jones said.  “There is tremendous growth in the development of productivity tools and customized applications that streamline the trading workflow and simplify compliance for traders.”

About IPC

IPC offers high- and low-touch trading communications solutions to the global financial trading community including the top investment banks, hedge funds and investment managers in established and emerging markets. With a 100-percent focus on this sector and nearly 40 years of expertise and an unrivalled record of innovation, IPC provides customers with unified solutions that support collaborative voice trading and real-time electronic trading and market data connectivity.  IPC’s offerings include the first unified communications/application platform, award-winning hard and soft turrets, electronic connectivity services including enhanced voice services, business continuity solutions, and follow-the-sun service and support. IPC’s global reach extends to nearly 60 countries – including a financial extranet of 5,000 on-net locations in over 700 cities and more than 115,000 turrets deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions.

With new regulations governing OTC derivatives trading coming into play, IPC’s Connexus Financial Extranet has seen significant growth among swap execution facilities (SEFs) and firms scrambling to secure connectivity to ensure competitiveness in the swaps market.

“The rapid growth of the OTC derivatives market and the implementation of the new regulations governing the market have helped drive the growth of our Connexus Extranet,” said Joe Pickel, vice president, Network Services Product Management. “Nearly three-quarters of firms expect their trading volumes to increase this year, while more than 60 percent of firms are or will be connected to one or more SEFs,”

The IPC Connexus Extranet was introduced in late 2011 to offer capital markets firms increased flexibility and responsiveness, bringing them speed, simplicity, expertise and cost advantages, including access to a broad range of cloud-based trade lifecycle services through a single connection. Since then, more than a dozen SEFs, including Eris Exchange, IntercontinentalExchange and Javelin Capital Markets, have been added to the network in preparation for the inevitable changes in the structure of the OTC derivatives markets brought about by new regulations.

“We are delighted that IPC is providing connectivity to a diverse pool of market participants seeking direct access to the Javelin trading platform,” said Michael Black, Head of Infrastructure, Javelin Capital Markets. “As the OTC derivatives markets embrace change, it is extremely important for our clients to have reliable and secure connectivity to our platform for trade execution.”

“As the market structure for OTC derivatives continues to evolve, IPC is providing its customers with solutions that help their clients seize opportunities to grow and profit,” Pickel said. “The additional visibility and control Connexus provides enables customers to make better connectivity and bandwidth decisions and help their firms operate smarter, faster and more efficiently.  The numbers of SEFs connected to Connexus grant traders vast opportunities in a growing market.”

Connexus is part of the IPC Financial Markets Network service portfolio which also includes private extranet and Direct Connect data services, as well as Trader and Enhanced voice communications services. The IPC Financial Markets Network is an expansive global network designed for voice and electronic trading and caters exclusively to the exacting demands of capital market participants. The network interconnects global financial centers and allows access to more than 4,500 market participant locations in over 700 cities in nearly 60 countries.

About IPC

IPC offers high- and low-touch trading communications solutions to the global financial trading community including the top investment banks, hedge funds and investment managers in established and emerging markets. With a 100-percent focus on this sector and nearly 40 years of expertise and an unrivaled record of innovation, IPC provides customers with unified solutions that support collaborative voice trading and real-time electronic trading and market data connectivity.  IPC’s offerings include the first unified communications/application platform, award-winning hard and soft turrets, electronic connectivity services including enhanced voice services, business continuity solutions, and follow-the-sun service and support. IPC’s global reach extends to nearly 60 countries – including a financial extranet of more than 5,000 on-net locations in over 700 cities and more than 115,000 turrets deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions.

Today, IPC Systems unveiled a new app development partner program for its Unigy® trading communications platform.  The Affinity Partner Program (APP) provides a framework for solutions vendors and customers to develop collaboration and trading workflow applications using IPC’s Blue WaveTM development platform for Unigy.

IPC’s APP provides an open development environment that allows the integration of communications, communications data and speech analytics to enhance business processes, workflow and simplify compliance.  Participants in APP can help increase competitive advantages for their firms or customers by developing applications that could include productivity tools for traders, and customized applications to address the needs of specific business units.

IPC already offers or has in development a variety of Unigy Blue Wave-based apps such as integration with Microsoft Lync® and SalesForce.com® as well as mobile applications for Apple® iOS.

“The financial industry is moving toward a model favoring more open and integrated systems and IPC’s Affinity Partner Program opens the door for market leading vendors to fully leverage the openness of the Unigy platform to develop innovative and powerful applications,” Mark Miller, Vice President, Product Management for IPC, said. “This move toward open systems is already helping to revolutionize the capital markets industry and the possibilities for development are almost endless; from applications that integrate with proprietary systems to give customers a competitive advantage to those that integrate voice recognition with sentiment analysis to provide a real-time view into market and trading dynamics,” Miller continued.

The Affinity Partner Program is structured to help customers and technology innovators take full advantage of Unigy’s Blue Wave Web Services API’s. Participants in the program will have access to a full suite of tools and services, including a software development kit, as well as a virtual “sandbox” test environment.  In addition, participants will have access to dedicated support and the APP portal, a web-based solution center.

About IPC

IPC offers high- and low-touch trading communications solutions to the global financial trading community including the top investment banks, hedge funds and investment managers in established and emerging markets. With a 100-percent focus on this sector and nearly 40 years of expertise and an unrivaled record of innovation, IPC provides customers with unified solutions that support collaborative voice trading and real-time electronic trading and market data connectivity.  IPC’s offerings include the first unified communications/application platform, award-winning hard and soft turrets, electronic connectivity services including enhanced voice services, business continuity solutions, and follow-the-sun service and support. IPC’s global reach extends to nearly 60 countries – including a financial extranet of 4,000 on-net locations in over 700 cities and more than 115,000 turrets deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions. For more information, visit www.ipc.com.

*Unigy® and Blue WaveTM are trademarks of IPC Systems, Inc.  All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

IPC’s Financial Markets Network has been selected as the “Best Sell-Side Trading Network” in Sell-Side Technology’s first annual Sell-Side Technology Awards program.  The selection was made by a panel of industry experts and Waters journalists.

IPC’s Financial Markets Network facilitates more than one trillion dollars of capital markets trading commerce daily and enables the complete trade life cycle across all asset classes including, Fixed Income, Foreign Exchange, Equities, Futures, Options, Commodities and OTC Derivatives.

“We’re honored to be selected as the Best-Sell Side Trading Network in the inaugural Sell-Side Technology Awards,” Joe Pickel, Vice President, Network Services Product Management said.  “Although our Finanical Markets Network may feature the newest and most advanced technology in the market, it is only a part of the reason for our success.   With 40 years of experience serving the Capital Markets, we know that technology isn’t a solution in and of itself. It’s how you leverage that technology to provide services that makes the difference.”

The IPC Financial Markets Network is a comprehensive suite of mission critical managed network services designed and operated for the global financial markets. The FMN includes voice and data connectivity solutions such as private wires, financial extranet cloud (Connexus), managed VPN, Ethernet services (Direct Connect), transport solutions and colocation. Encompassing more than 115,000 route miles, the FMN connects more than 200,000 users at more than 5,000 locations in 700 cities in more than 60 countries.  The FMN has connectivity to more than 60 liquidity venues globally including those in all major markets.

About Sell-Side Technology

Sell-Side Technology covers how financial institutions maintain their competitive advantage by making strategic investments into their front-office trading systems; examines internally developed and third-party systems being brought to market and the latest technology’s impact on the industry. Sell- Side Technology is published by Incisive Media Plc. For more information, please visit www.watersonline.com and www.incisivemedia.com.

About IPC

IPC offers high- and low-touch trading communications solutions to the global financial trading community including the top investment banks, hedge funds and investment managers in established and emerging markets. With a 100-percent focus on this sector and nearly 40 years of expertise and an unrivaled record of innovation, IPC provides customers with unified solutions that support collaborative voice trading and real-time electronic trading and market data connectivity.  IPC’s offerings include the first unified communications/application platform, award-winning hard and soft turrets, electronic connectivity services including enhanced voice services, business continuity solutions, and follow-the-sun service and support. IPC’s global reach extends to nearly 60 countries – including a financial extranet of 4,000 on-net locations in over 700 cities and more than 115,000 turrets deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions.

IPC Systems, Inc., a leading provider of voice and electronic trading communications solutions to the world’s top financial services firms, today announced that Minsheng Life Insurance has successfully implemented Unigy, IPC’s revolutionary unified trading communications platform. Using the Unigy backbone, Minsheng will deploy IPC’s IQ/MAX Edge 100 turrets across its enterprise. This implementation underscores IPC’s expanded growth into the Asia-Pacific market with the first Unigy customer signing in mainland China.

Minsheng Life Insurance was seeking to upgrade from a traditional communications system to a new infrastructure that would help speed communication between counterparties as well as increase collaboration across offices. After evaluating several PBX vendors, the Company chose IPC’s IQ/MAX Edge powered by the Unigy platform. The IQ/MAX Edge is designed specifically to provide individuals in small to medium-sized trading firms, as well as junior traders, sales traders and other individuals on the edge of the trading floor in larger firms, the key capabilities they need to optimize their collaboration with trade support individuals across the entire trading lifecycle and workflow.

“After evaluating traditional PBX vendors, choosing IPC and their Unigy system and the new Edge turrets was the best choice for our operations,” said a spokeperson for Minsheng Life Insurance. “The user interface with the Edge turret and the Unigy platform provides our traders the ability to easily tailor the turret to their specific needs. The new application launch pad provides traders easy access to line appearances, contacts and speed dials, and their communications history.”

IQ/MAX Edge 100 has 100 buttons for contacts within and outside a firm, hoot and intercom connectivity and dual handsets. Every IQ/MAX Edge also comes equipped with IQ/MAX Sync – a powerful PC-based productivity tool that allows users to manage calls, speakers, contacts and directories directly from a PC. IQ/MAX Sync integrates with users’ Microsoft Outlook local directory to help them simplify workflow processes.

Among Edge’s other features are broad, full-color, high-definition screens that make data easy to read; high-definition audio for more accurate exchange of information; and an application launch pad for Unigy™ apps that improve trade processing and productivity.

“We are delighted that Minsheng Life Insurance has selected IPC’s Unigy for its trading needs,” said David Dodd, managing director, IPC Asia Pacific. “Our mission is to deliver high quality and value-added voice communications technology solutions and applications that support global trading floors. We will continue to help meet the growing and diversified needs of financial services customers in this region and around the world in order to help them achieve global trading efficiency.”

IQ/MAX Edge is powered by Unigy – IPC’s revolutionary unified trading communications and applications platform, introduced earlier this month. The Unigy platform’s open standards and service oriented architecture (SOA) helps streamline trading workflow, create custom apps for a competitive edge, reduce operational risks and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for firms of all sizes.

About IPC

IPC offers high- and low-touch trading communications solutions to the global financial trading community including the top investment banks, hedge funds and investment managers in established and emerging markets. With a 100-percent focus on this sector and nearly 40 years of expertise and an unrivaled record of innovation, IPC provides customers with unified solutions that support collaborative voice trading and real-time electronic trading and market data connectivity.  IPC’s offerings include the first unified communications/application platform, award-winning hard and soft turrets, electronic connectivity services including enhanced voice services, business continuity solutions, and follow-the-sun service and support. IPC’s global reach extends to nearly 60 countries – including a financial extranet of 4,000 on-net locations in over 700 cities and more than 115,000 turrets deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions.

IPC Systems, Inc., a leading provider of voice and electronic trading communications solutions to the world’s top financial services firms and global enterprises, today announced that Instinet, a global agency-only broker* and electronic trading pioneer, has joined IPC’s Connexus Financial Extranet service.

Using IPC’s Connexus, financial institutions across the globe can now quickly and cost-efficiently access Instinet’s full suite of trading tools, including the award-winning Newport® 3 EMS, the Execution Experts® algorithms and Instinet’s low-latency SmartRouter.

“Instinet is an electronic trading pioneer, having introduced some of the industry’s truly game-changing technologies throughout its history. That heritage of excellence lives on today through the firm’s highly-regarded trading suite and we’re pleased to help users access the platform in a cost- effective manner by adding Instinet to the Connexus network,” Joe Pickel, vice president, Network Services Product Management, IPC, said.

 

“Next-generation trading networks have to respond to increased demands for reliability, security and efficiency,” Pickel said. “By offering connectivity to Instinet through Connexus, IPC is reaffirming its long-standing commitment of providing industry leading, value-added network solutions to the global trading community.”

Connexus is part of the IPC Financial Markets Network service portfolio which also includes private extranet and DirectConnect data services, as well as Trader and Enhanced voice connectivity services. IPC’s Financial Markets Network interconnects global financial centers and allows access to more than 4,000 market participant locations in over 700 cities in nearly 60 countries. Built on an IP/MPLS backbone, the highly scalable and secure Connexus supports a number of industry standard and trading protocols.

*Through regional brokerage subsidiaries

 

About Instinet

Instinet, a global agency-only broker, will soon serve as the independent equity trading arm of the Nomura Group. Through an advanced suite of electronic trading tools, innovative high-touch trading model and unparalleled access to insightful content and unique agency-only liquidity, Instinet helps institutions globally lower overall trading costs and ultimately improve investment performance. Throughout its 40+ year history, Instinet has been a true electronic trading pioneer, having introduced a range of now industry- standard trading technologies as well as the world’s first major electronic trading venue in 1969, one of the first recognized U.S. ECNs in 1997 and, most recently, the Chi-X businesses. For more information, please visit www.instinet.com or follow Instinet on Twitter.

About IPC

IPC offers high- and low-touch trading communications solutions to the global financial trading community including the top investment banks, hedge funds and investment managers in established and emerging markets. With a 100-percent focus on this sector and nearly 40 years of expertise and an unrivaled record of innovation, IPC provides customers with unified solutions that support collaborative voice trading and real-time electronic trading and market data connectivity.  IPC’s offerings include the first unified communications/application platform, award-winning hard and soft turrets, electronic connectivity services including enhanced voice services, business continuity solutions, and follow-the-sun service and support. IPC’s global reach extends to nearly 60 countries – including a financial extranet of 4,000 on-net locations in over 700 cities and more than 115,000 turrets deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions.

IPC Systems, Inc., a leading provider of voice and electronic trading communications solutions to the world’s top financial firms and global enterprises, today announced the introduction of a Global Business Unit dedicated to designing and delivering Managed Services to help customers navigate through the increased complexity and regulatory requirements associated with trading communications.

This strategic initiative is a result of growing customer interest in specialized services to help improve performance, reduce costs and provide the flexibility to quickly meet changing business demands. Marianne Leitch has been appointed as the senior executive to develop the Managed Services business.

“We partner with our customers to help them realize efficiencies that result in immediate cost savings, which is top of the agenda in today’s climate,” Marianne Leitch, Senior Vice President, IPC Managed Services said.  “Our Managed Services also provide IPC with an opportunity to transform our service business to support customer requirements well into the future with flexible financial and innovative technology solutions.”

 

“The incentive for the financial industry to embrace managed services has never been greater,” Dushyant Shahrawat, Senior Research Director, CEB TowerGroup said. “We estimate that managed services spending will double from $9.4 billion in 2013 to $18.6 billion by 2015. Demand for these services will grow faster than for BPO, KPO and other forms of outsourcing. Capital markets firms will migrate to a Managed Services model driven by cost pressures, renewed focus on core competency, and to remain competitive in areas like securities trading.”

IPC Managed Services will leverage the company’s core service expertise and global processes to deliver proactive service management, innovative technology solutions and strategic planning focused on the core trading communications technologies:

• Trading Systems; * Communications networks; * Voice Recording; * PBX and Unified Communications Systems; * Applications. 

IPC Managed Services will provide customers with a cost-effective and comprehensive approach to simplify the growing complexities associated with management of today’s mission-critical communications infrastructure and day- to-day service management and support.  Managed Services has a growing team of dedicated experienced service delivery professionals, engineering resources, trading communication expertise and marketing and sales support to deliver ITIL-aligned management, support, improved business processes and reporting. A consultative approach assures each customer gets the services best suited to their organization and needs. Services offered include: system and network monitoring and management, inventory management, vendor management, order management, data protection, application support, transformation services and regulatory conformance.

Stephen Crowe, Vice President, Business Development, will be leading IPC Managed Services sales.  “We are excited about the opportunity to deliver value-added services to the global financial community,” Crowe said.  “In partnership with our customers we aim to make it easy for them to achieve their transformation strategies for the trading environment.”

About IPC

IPC offers high- and low-touch trading communications and managed service solutions to the global financial trading community including the top investment banks, hedge funds and investment managers in established and emerging markets. With a 100-percent focus on this sector and nearly 40 years of expertise and an unrivaled record of innovation, IPC provides customers with unified solutions that support collaborative voice trading and real-time electronic trading and market data connectivity.  IPC’s offerings include the first unified communications/application platform, award-winning hard and soft turrets, electronic connectivity services including enhanced voice services, business continuity solutions, and follow-the-sun service and support. IPC’s global reach extends to nearly 60 countries – including a financial extranet of 4,000 on-net locations in over 700 cities and more than 115,000 turrets deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions.

IPC Systems, Inc., a leading provider of voice and electronic trading communications solutions to the world’s top financial services firms and global enterprises, today announced that Jefferies & Company, Inc., a global investment banking firm, has selected two of IPC’s Financial Markets Network offerings, Connexus Financial Extranet service and Direct Connect data service, to increase its competitiveness and boost its international business growth.

Connexus and Direct Connect provide Jefferies with access to key global financial market participants including buy-side firms, liquidity venues, market data providers, independent software vendors and data centers, as well as inter-office connectivity.  In addition, the IPC Financial Markets Network offers Jefferies enhanced communications capabilities, improved customer service, increased productivity and reduced administrative expenses.

“Jefferies has served companies and investors for 50 years now. With offices in over 30 cities around the world, we needed fast, flexible service to reach our clients and our providers,” said Sean Milligan, Senior Vice President, Technology, Jefferies. “IPC’s Connexus and Direct Connect provide us with professionally managed connectivity that enables us to reach customers, liquidity venues or anyone else we need to reach when and where we need to reach them.”

 

“IPC is committed to providing industry leading, value-added network solutions for traders in a reliable and secure environment,” said Joe Pickel, Vice President, Network Services Product Management, IPC. “Connexus and Direct Connect provide Jefferies with the financial extranet and direct connectivity services that offer global reach and superior customer service along with fast and efficient access.”

Connexus is part of the IPC Financial Markets Network service portfolio which also includes private extranet and Direct Connect data services, as well as Trader and Enhanced voice connectivity services. IPC’s Financial Markets Network interconnects global financial centers and allows access to more than 4,000 market participant locations in over 700 cities in nearly 60 countries. Built on an IP/MPLS backbone, the highly scalable and secure Connexus supports a number of industry standard and trading protocols.

About IPC

IPC offers high- and low-touch trading communications solutions to the global financial trading community including the top investment banks, hedge funds and investment managers in established and emerging markets. With a 100-percent focus on this sector and nearly 40 years of expertise and an unrivaled record of innovation, IPC provides customers with unified solutions that support collaborative voice trading and real-time electronic trading and market data connectivity.  IPC’s offerings include the first unified communications/application platform, award-winning hard and soft turrets, electronic connectivity services including enhanced voice services, business continuity solutions, and follow-the-sun service and support. IPC’s global reach extends to nearly 60 countries – including a financial extranet of 4,000 on-net locations in over 700 cities and more than 115,000 turrets deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions.