Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Networking

    Server 2003 Aids Trading Firm

    By
    Peter Galli
    -
    April 21, 2003
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      While Linux and other open-source technologies gain momentum in the financial services industry, at least one company is staying close to Microsoft Corp. platforms for stability and reliability concerns.

      Universal Network Exchange Inc., or UNX, is a provider of electronic equities trading solutions to institutional investors and an early adopter of Windows Server 2003. Primarily, its using the platform to improve time to market with new products.

      “We are building technology that shores up the issues of the market for our clients,” said UNX CEO Randy Abernathy (pictured). “We have to do so very quickly because the changes happen very rapidly. One of my greatest concerns is the time to market for those products that add value to our customers businesses.”

      The Burbank, Calif., company, which trades about $1 billion in principal every two to three days, has a core technology group to build superfast products such as trading servers and tactics engines. It also has a number of products that need a far shorter time to market, for which it uses the .Net Framework platform.

      But the company was looking for more.

      It wanted to alleviate some of its data center pressures by being able to more effectively utilize the bandwidth of its servers through better clustering technologies. UNX also wanted to expand its existing data center, not for performance issues but for availability, and was hoping Windows Server 2003 would help.

      Abernathy said he was not disappointed, as he found new ways to create availability, such as with the Network Load Balancing feature.

      Because of the softwares virtual network load balancers, UNX was able to cut the server count in half in one area of its production environments.

      “[It] was a big deal for us,” Abernathy said.

      The company also last year built out a single stock trading terminal that had real-time market data and access to all its algorithms. By using a Web services API, the company had enabled its trading terminal to make use of its platform.

      But even that was not enough. The network infrastructure and all the trading logic and sweeping algorithms also needed to be deployed to clients in myriad ways. One way to rapidly deploy them was through Web services, something Server 2003 could handle.

      “The IIS [Internet Information Services] kernel mode driver component is just blazing; it really moves fast,” Abernathy said.

      Clients could now also build proprietary models and systems on top of its platform.

      UNX, which has been testing the Windows Server 2003 code since last year, said it expects to have migrated all its servers to 2003 by June. The trading system and its U.S. equity trading platform have been running on Server 2003 via terminal services for its electronic trade support staff since the beginning of the year.

      “We also have all our demo systems up and running on 2003, which means theres a complete version of our platform there for clients to do development on and build things against our Web services,” Abernathy said.

      All UNXs quality assurance environments have been turned over to Server 2003.

      Abernathy said he believes Windows Server 2003 has so far lived up to what Microsoft has promised. “Basically, everything that we had been using in the past is at least as good or better in Server 2003,” he said.

      For more on Windows Server 2003, see our special section.

      Peter Galli
      Peter Galli has been a financial/technology reporter for 12 years at leading publications in South Africa, the UK and the US. He has been Investment Editor of South Africa's Business Day Newspaper, the sister publication of the Financial Times of London.He was also Group Financial Communications Manager for First National Bank, the second largest banking group in South Africa before moving on to become Executive News Editor of Business Report, the largest daily financial newspaper in South Africa, owned by the global Independent Newspapers group.He was responsible for a national reporting team of 20 based in four bureaus. He also edited and contributed to its weekly technology page, and launched a financial and technology radio service supplying daily news bulletins to the national broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which were then distributed to some 50 radio stations across the country.He was then transferred to San Francisco as Business Report's U.S. Correspondent to cover Silicon Valley, trade and finance between the US, Europe and emerging markets like South Africa. After serving that role for more than two years, he joined eWeek as a Senior Editor, covering software platforms in August 2000.He has comprehensively covered Microsoft and its Windows and .Net platforms, as well as the many legal challenges it has faced. He has also focused on Sun Microsystems and its Solaris operating environment, Java and Unix offerings. He covers developments in the open source community, particularly around the Linux kernel and the effects it will have on the enterprise.He has written extensively about new products for the Linux and Unix platforms, the development of open standards and critically looked at the potential Linux has to offer an alternative operating system and platform to Windows, .Net and Unix-based solutions like Solaris.His interviews with senior industry executives include Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Linus Torvalds, the original developer of the Linux operating system, Sun CEO Scot McNealy, and Bill Zeitler, a senior vice president at IBM.For numerous examples of his writing you can search under his name at the eWEEK Website at www.eweek.com.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×