IBM UK has entered a new market with its launch of a software package for City dealers and analysts developed by the International Stock Exchange. The Radix package is designed to bring together information from the various news and financial services, such as Reuters, Telerate and the Stock Exchange’s own Topic and Computer Readable Service, […]
IBM UK has entered a new market with its launch of a software package for City dealers and analysts developed by the International Stock Exchange. The Radix package is designed to bring together information from the various news and financial services, such as Reuters, Telerate and the Stock Exchange’s own Topic and Computer Readable Service, in a manipulable form on IBM’s 16 8514 Colour Displays attached to Token Ring networks powered by Personal System/2 model 60s and 7552 Industrial Computers. According to the marketing manager of IBM’s specially formed Trading Systems Unit, Scott Pollard, Radix allows users to reduce the number of screens on or around their desks. It also provides the ability to capture transient information currently delivered to traders in video, rather than processable digital, form. In addition, the keystrokes required to access information are consistent across services. Radix also offers user-defined nicknames for accessing information quickly and the ability to set alarms for prices of bonds, equities, commodities or currencies reaching certain pre-defined levels. As part of the agreement signed earlier this year under which IBM is marketing Radix, the Stock Exchange is required to publish the interfaces to the package. IBM hopes this will lead to some of the 170 information providers to the City adding their services to Radix without waiting for the Stock Exchange to do so. Currently running under MS-DOS, Radix will be developed to run under OS/2. It has already been ordered by Unit Trust managers M&G Group Plc, Japanese equity dealers Nomura Securities and Daiwa Securities, Security Pacific Hoare Govett, and Friends Provident and is available for between UKP12,000 and UKP17,000 a dealer station, a price Pollard describes as extremely competitive. Further developments to Radix are expected quite soon and it may be customised for the US.
