Lab49 Update: April - June 2008

Here’s a brief update on some of Lab49’s activities during the second quarter of 2008:

1. Algorithmic Trading article: “The Right Formula”, Waters Magazine

In a recent article in Waters Magazine, Lab49's Luke Flemmer argues that firms must develop both the technical and operational capabilities to integrate algorithmic trading as a core capability, rather than a speculative initiative. The article also touches on areas such as algorithmic discovery, back-testing and simulation, and appropriate risk controls and performance attribution. The article can be read here.

2. CEP Article: “New Horizons for Complex Event Processing”, Automated Trader Magazine

Over the past few years, complex event processing (CEP) technology has grown from a niche category rooted in academia to one of the central pillars in the modern financial services technology stack. In this article, I discuss the reasons why this new technology has become so widely adopted, demonstrate one of its main new uses, and preview where I see this industry headed. Read the full article here.

3. Java Article: “The Rise of Functional Programming”, Java Developer's Journal

Lab49's Joe Morrison and Kalani Thielen discuss the basic principles of functional programming, and show some functional patterns that a developer can start using in Java programs immediately. The article in Java Developer’s Journal, entitled “The Rise of Functional Programming”, can be read here.

4. .NET Article: “Parallel Extensions to the .NET Framework”, Dr. Dobb’s Journal

Concurrent programming has become a critical new technique for high-performance application developers. Lab49’s Matt Davey writes about impact of Parallel Extensions from the perspective of investment banking software projects. The article, in Dr. Dobb’s Journal, can be read in full here.

5. Industry Event: SIFMA technology Conference 2008

Lab49 showcased a number of advanced user interfaces and complex event processing (CEP) applications at the 2008 SIFMA Conference on June 10-12, 2008. With various partners, Lab49 showed demonstrations of next-generation trading applications: Aleri Market Liquidity Analysis (screencast, article), some Apama customer projects, the Coral8 algo trading demo, and the Lab49/Microsoft “Next Generation Trading Room” (mentioned here).

6. Executive Briefing: “Excel that Scales”

Lab49, GigaSpaces Technologies and Microsoft Corporation hosted an executive briefing to discuss this solution, which uses GigaSpaces technology to enhance the scalability of Microsoft Excel. This allows enterprises to harness the power of their data centers to scale their Excel-based applications and dramatically improve their users' productivity. Craig Saint-Amour, Luke Flemmer and Owen Taylor presented a complete solution that allows enterprises to offload data and computation from users' desktops to the server side, benefit from improved resiliency, scalability, and total cost of ownership of their Excel based applications. Read the full whitepaper from Microsoft and GigaSpaces here.

7. Solution: Institutional Client Platform

Lab49 was the designated consulting partner for the Microsoft Institutional Client Platform (ICP), a solution for buy- and sell-side firms that uses CRM and client analytics to provide greater visibility into client activity across financial product silos. The ICP integrates instant messaging, e-mail and trader turrets, bringing together all front-, middle- and back-office activity into a single view of the customer. More details in the announcement here.

8. Blog Re-Launched

The Lab49 blog (http://blog.lab49.com) has been re-designed, with a new, easier-to-read layout and features to help organize and highlight new and relevant posts.

Staying current:



Regards,
Daniel
----------------------

Daniel

Co-Founder and Managing Director