Arcontech unveils CityVision for Sun Solaris – contracts signed

15/05/2009

London, 15 May 2009.  Arcontech, the real-time market data technology specialist has today announced the availability of the Sun Solaris™ version of its CityVision market data distribution platform.  The Solaris version has completed rigorous internal tests and is currently undergoing client acceptance testing.

The latest CityVision version was developed in response to market demand for Solaris on Intel x86 and in recognition of the preference in many City firms for the robust operating system on lower cost hardware.

The Solaris version uses exactly the same core code base as the extensively proven CityVision for Microsoft Windows™. This was made possible by Arcontech’s innovative use of its own real-time micro kernel, providing an abstraction layer from the underlying operating system.  Only the kernel needed to be ported, greatly reducing both the effort required and the risk of introducing programming errors, since almost no logic needed to be reworked.

The Solaris components are completely interoperable with the Windows versions, meaning that even a change from Windows to Solaris can be undertaken with no system downtime. According to Andrew Miller, CEO of Arcontech, “CityVision supports true hot standby with automatic failover and no data loss. One half of the system can be brought off-line and upgraded while the other half continues. Then the system can be failed over to the newly upgraded Solaris side while the remaining Windows side is upgraded. All of this with no loss of service – no one can beat CityVision for availability.”

Solaris is often attractive to the market data operations of many firms because of the incumbent installations and staff skill sets. Solaris systems can be considered more manageable and easier to deploy.

Miller again: “We’re seeing strong interest in both Windows and Solaris solutions, with several new contracts signed this year, including specific requirement for a Solaris version which we are pleased to have delivered. Along the way we’ve incorporated many new ideas from the major firms we are working with and consequently both versions continue to stay ahead of the competition in terms of features, reliability, availability and flexibility.”