Imported from previous forum
Daiwa Securities Chooses Aegis Software for Direct Market Access
Deploys Athena Trading Platform for High-speed Access to Major Exchanges and ECNs
NEW YORK, June 21, 2005 – Aegis Software Inc. announced today at the SIA Technology Management Conference that Daiwa Securities America Inc. has deployed Athena trading software as its next-generation direct market access platform. Designed to service its buy side clients as well as Daiwa’s own desks, the Athena product is being hosted internally by Daiwa and offers DMA capability to NYSE, Archipelago and other markets. Initially, the service only supports equities, but Daiwa plans to add connectivity to the CME and the ISE in the next few months.
“We decided to bring our DMA service in house”, said Michael Mollemans, Head of Electronic Execution Sales of Daiwa Securities America. “We had been using an outside vendor, but did not have the level of control that we wanted. DMA is all about performance and flexibility, and we needed to be more competitive. Together with our partner Aegis, Daiwa has developed, we believe to be, one of the fastest DMA offerings in the marketplace. The Athena software allows us to map client-specific FIX messages into native exchange formats with a minimum of latency. Additionally, Athena’s administrative and reporting tools allow us to provide a high degree of customer service.”
“Today, every one of our clients, whether buy side or sell side, is focused on high performance” said Norm Friedman, Vice President at Aegis Software. “Algorithmic trading is pitting machine against machine, and every millisecond counts. The buy side wants to send baskets of the Russell 3000 as quickly as possible, and the sell side needs to demonstrate that they can handle this flow with imperceptible delay. The best algorithm is useless if the order does not arrive in time”.
Athena is a 100% broker-neutral software platform that not only supports high performance DMA, but also the trading of global equities, futures, options and foreign exchange. The product supports Sell-Side, Buy-Side and Hedge Funds engaged in agency, program, portfolio and quantitative trading. Athena supports baskets/lists and single-stock trading using advanced order types, and canned or user-defined custom algorithms. Athena is a flexible order execution system that combines a robust operating environment with superior performance.
About Aegis Aegis Software (www.aegisoft.com)
Headquartered in New York, NY, Aegis Software has been addressing the trading, connectivity and quality assurance needs of the financial industry since 1994. Aegis’ products include portfolio trading software, communications protocols to connect to the major stock exchanges and ECNs, and an extensive array of testing and QA solutions. Recognized for their achievements with FIX testing and connectivity, Aegis is a member of the FIX Protocol Limited Certification Group. For more information on the company, please visit www.aegisoft.com or booth 1520 at the SIA Technology Management Conference in New York June 21-23.
Media Contact:
Carrie Gallagher
Aegis Software Inc.
212-651-9490
cgallagher@aegisoft.com