04/04/2012

ARCONTECH GROUP PLC (“Arcontech” or the “Group”)

Arcontech Ltd Board Appointments Strengthen Growth

London, 3rd April 2012. Arcontech Ltd, key trading subsidiary of Arcontech Group PLC and a leading vendor independent provider of sell-side alternative market data contributions and distribution technology, is pleased to announce the appointment of two additional directors, adding talent and experience to the existing Board membership.  The appointments recognise the long service and dedication of existing key staff members.

Sarah Wisbey, who has been with Arcontech since 1992, becomes Administrative Director, responsible for overall office operations, including human resource and facilities as well as procurement and expense management.  Sarah will work closely with Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Miller and other key staff on strategic and tactical planning for the Group.

Darren Lewis, who joined Arcontech in 1999, is appointed Director of CityVision Development, with remit to drive forward product development and technical strategy.

Andrew Miller commented: “Both Sarah and Darren have contributed greatly to the development of Arcontech. Sarah continues to provide excellent support in her varied roles while Darren has been instrumental in formulation and execution of CityVision product direction.  I welcome them to the Board and look forward to their continued help and support.”

Founding directors of Arcontech Ltd Stephen Prout and Andrew Weber remain on the Board, together with Michael Levy (Finance), providing continuity and great depth of experience.  Recruitment of additional staff is underway to provide increased resource for company expansion.

For further information please visit http://www.arcontech.com or contact:

Arcontech Group plc
Andrew Miller, Chief Executive
Sarah Wisbey
+ 44 20 7256 2300

Northland Capital Partners Limited
Shane Gallwey
+44 20 7796 8823

Notes for Editors:

About Arcontech Group Plc

Arcontech Group Plc’s (AIM: ARC) key trading subsidiary is Arcontech Limited.

Founded in 1979, Arcontech is real-time software specialist providing products and bespoke systems for collection, processing, distribution and presentation of time-sensitive financial markets data.

Arcontech is independent of any data vendor (such as Thomson Reuters or Bloomberg) and has thrived due to timely delivery of dependable, cost-effective solutions to the financial community based on its award winning CityVision product suite.  Its diverse clients range from National Government, Investment Banks and Data Vendors through to Brokers and Bookmakers.

Arcontech installed its first digital market data products in 1983 and has continually developed new, innovative systems and products, adopting leading edge technology, proven in the marketplace.

CityVision

CityVision supports collection, aggregation and redistribution of market data in real-time from multiple sources to multiple destinations. Sources can include vendor data feeds, exchanges, MTFs (Multi-lateral Trading Facilities) and contributed data from the spreadsheets and trading systems of the pan-European investment banking community.  Destinations include multiple vendor contributions, dealing desk displays, Microsoft Excel, real-time streaming web updates and on-line trading applications.

CityVision is fast, flexible, fully resilient, scalable and secure, with a full authentication and entitlements system. The system is extensible to receive instruments in any asset class, from hundreds of contributors and to provide controlled re-distribution.

CityVision can interoperate with other systems (such as Thomson Reuters RMDS and Bloomberg) via existing de-facto standards (such as Marketlink, SSL and FIX) and via its own comprehensive APIs. This means it can provide cost effective solutions to add value to or replace incumbent systems.

06/03/2012

Share Fraud Warning The FCA in conjunction with ICSA Registrars Group, have updated the ‘Share Fraud Warning Leaflet’ for shareholders, highlighting the dangers of accepting unsolicited telephone calls and correspondence, as well as providing guidelines on what to do if they receive unsolicited investment advice. 

Share fraud includes scams where investors are called out of the blue and offered shares that often turn out to be worthless or non-existent, or an inflated price for shares they own. These calls come from fraudsters operating in ‘boiler rooms’ that are mostly based abroad.

While high profits are promised, those who buy or sell shares in this way usually lose their money.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has found most share fraud victims are experienced investors who lose an average of £20,000, with around £200m lost in the UK each year.

PROTECT YOURSELF

If you are offered unsolicited investment advice, discounted shares, a premium price for shares you own, or free company or research reports, you should take these steps before handing over any money:

1. Get the name of the person and organisation contacting you.

2. Check the FCA Register at http://www.fca.gov.uk/register to ensure they are authorised.

3. Use the details on the FCA Register to contact the firm.

4. Call the FCA Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768 if there are no contact details on the Register or you are told they are out of date.

5. Search our list of unauthorised firms and individuals to avoid doing business with.

6. REMEMBER: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

If you use an unauthorised firm to buy or sell shares or other investments, you will not have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service or Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) if things go wrong.

REPORT A SCAM

If you are approached about a share scam you should tell the FCA using the share fraud reporting form at http://www.fca.gov.uk/consumers/scams, where you can find out about the latest investment scams.

You can also call the Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768

If you have already paid money to share fraudsters you should contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040

The above information was updated on 20th June 2013

17/01/2012

ARCONTECH GROUP PLC

(”Arcontech” or the “Group”)

Major International Bank goes live with CityVision

Arcontech Group plc (AIM: ARC), a provider of enterprise real-time software solutions to the investment banking and broking sectors, is pleased to announce that a major international bank has deployed CityVision in production. Global roll out is continuing, with the initial phase covering Europe, North America and Asia Pacific regions.

The deployment is part of an initiative to deploy data vendor independent solutions and is facilitated by Arcontech’s “CityVision Adaptor” strategy announced in October last year. It will bring revenue to Arcontech in excess of £1m over three years and is expected to provide the bank with considerable cost savings, as well as streamlining and consolidating market data operations.

The CityVision system provides market data contribution to data vendors and redistributors including Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg, IDC and SIX Telekurs displacing the incumbent contributions systems.  It also facilitates cross connectivity between other market data platforms and systems within the bank, enabling data received or generated on one to be viewed and processed by equipment connected to the other. This means that in many cases where two (or more) vendor terminals were required on the desktop, fewer are now required, therefore making possible a reduction in the overall terminal count with a dramatic commensurate cost saving.

Andrew Miller, CEO of Arcontech plc commented: “We’ve invested considerably in developing and fine-tuning our CityVision adapters; naturally, I am delighted to see that we are well on the way to recovering that investment.  The configuration and components deployed comprise a vendor agnostic model that is repeatable across the investment banking community, giving users true choice and flexibility in their market data operations.”

For further information please visit http://www.arcontech.com or contact:

Arcontech Group plc
Andrew Miller, Chief Executive
Sarah Wisbey
+ 44 20 7256 2300

Northland Capital Partners Limited
Shane Gallwey
+44 20 7796 8823

15/11/2011

WARNING: We have been made aware of continued questionable approaches to Shareholders by several companies operating out of New York; The Tate and Carver Consultancy, The Rockridge Consultancy and The Easton Consultancy to name a few. We believe these companies are operating a scam as they are offering severely inflated prices for shares and we have reported this. We advise Shareholders not to engage with these or any other suspicious companies.

In recent years, many companies have become aware that their shareholders have received unsolicited phone calls or correspondence concerning investment matters. These are typically from overseas based ‘brokers’ who target UK shareholders, offering to sell them what often turn out to be worthless or high risk shares in US or UK investments. These operations are commonly known as ‘boiler rooms’. These ‘brokers’ can be very persistent and extremely persuasive, and a 2006 survey by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has reported that the average amount lost by investors is around £20,000.

It is not just the novice investor that has been duped in this way; many of the victims had been successfully investing for several years. Shareholders are advised to be very wary of any unsolicited advice, offers to buy or sell shares at a discount or inflated price or offers of free company reports. If you receive any unsolicited investment advice:

* Make sure you get the correct name of the person and organisation

* Check that they are properly authorised by the FSA by visiting http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/

* Report the matter to the FSA by calling 0845 606 1234 or use the online links below

* If the calls persist, hang up.

The FSA also maintains on its website a list of unauthorised overseas firms who are targeting, or have targeted, UK investors and any approach from such organisations should be reported to the FSA so that this list can be kept up to date and any other appropriate action can be considered.  Please note if you deal with an unauthorised firm, you would not be eligible to receive payment under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

You can also notify the FSA with regards to Unauthorised overseas firms operating in the UK by completing an online form at:
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/doing/regulated/law/alerts/overseas.shtml

For Unauthorised UK firms please use the following online form:
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/Doing/Regulated/Law/Alerts/form.shtml

More detailed information on this or similar activity can be found on the FSA website:
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/

Please also see: http://www.sec.gov/answers/advancefeefraud.htm

10/10/2011

London, 10th October 2011.  Arcontech, supplier of “CityVision”, the leading vendor-independent real-time market data distribution, contribution and cross-platform connectivity software, has outlined its strategy for “adapter” technology, to support flexibility and increase customer choice of data vendor, technology provider and architecture.

At the FISD conference in Tokyo last month, Chandra Dass, Head of CityVision Sales for Arcontech asked some thought provoking questions and outlined their strategy for two-way adapters to provide the answers that many firms are looking for.

A major programme, in response to market feedback, has resulted in several significant enhancements to CityVision. Firstly, the core platform is now available on the operating systems typically prevalent in major banks and brokers – namely Microsoft Windows, Sun Solaris X86 and Linux. Secondly, adapter development now provides a flexible framework for integration at both the client and server level for direct feeds, RMDS, Bloomberg and Tibco RV. It also means that applications written using the CityVision API can run with little or no change in different environments, greatly reducing redevelopment costs. Thirdly, configuration has been increasingly automated, reducing time and complexity for component roll-out.  Finally, detailed user-features and interoperation capability such as Open DACS integration and “compatibility modes” provide for migration paths which reduce or eliminate cost and risk of change.

Andrew Miller, Managing Director of Arcontech said “In simple terms, this means CityVision components make interoperability between major technologies and environments within existing market data infrastructures easier and more powerful, enabling clients to realise true choice and benefit from vendor replacement strategies.

For example, the market appears to welcome various vendor initiatives in enterprise architecture and open systems, but a mass change from an incumbent vendor can be a difficult transition.  There are many internal systems and workflows that need to be considered. A controlled migration over months or years is likely to yield best results with lowest risk.  Close interoperability is needed and that’s where we expect our products to gain considerable traction.”

Components from the new range have already been licensed to several financial institutions, with installations in the UK, mainland Europe, USA and the Far East.

For further information please contact:

Arcontech Group plc
Andrew Miller, Chief Executive
Chandra Dass, Head of CityVision Sales
+ 44 20 7256 2300

12/07/2011

Arcontech Group plc (AIM: ARC), a provider of enterprise real-time software solutions to the investment banking and broking sectors, is pleased to announce a number of new contract wins by its Arcontech Ltd subsidiary for its CityVision market data distribution and AXE trading system products . The sales have been made to a diverse client base ranging from a smaller independent investment bank to a large international banking group.

The new business will generate revenues in excess of £1.4m over the next three years.

Andrew Miller, CEO of Arcontech plc commented: “We’ve put an exceptional amount into product and relationship development during the financial year to June 2011 and it is gratifying to see it bring success.  The combination of new and proven products, together with globalised support is attractive to an increasing number of firms where our advanced interfacing technology, coupled with independence, gives them choice and adaptability as they seek to improve performance whilst reducing costs and vendor dependence.

“We anticipate additional sales once the advantages of our technology become better known through these forthcoming implementations and as a result of our more vigorous sales and marketing programme.

Particularly exciting is that the new products, developed in cooperation with several major firms, provide ground-breaking interconnectivity between the major vendor platforms and are already attracting significant interest from other international firms.”

For further information please visit http://www.arcontech.com or contact:

Arcontech Group plc
Andrew Miller, Chief Executive
Richard Last, Chairman
+ 44 20 7256 2300
+44 1608 683 108

Northland Capital Partners Limited
Shane Gallwey
+44 20 7796 8823

23/06/2011

In recent years, many companies have become aware that their shareholders have received unsolicited phone calls or correspondence concerning investment matters. These are typically from overseas based ‘brokers’ who target UK shareholders, offering to sell them what often turn out to be worthless or high risk shares in US or UK investments. These operations are commonly known as ‘boiler rooms’. These ‘brokers’ can be very persistent and extremely persuasive, and a 2006 survey by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has reported that the average amount lost by investors is around £20,000.

It is not just the novice investor that has been duped in this way; many of the victims had been successfully investing for several years. Shareholders are advised to be very wary of any unsolicited advice, offers to buy or sell shares at a discount or inflated price or offers of free company reports. If you receive any unsolicited investment advice:

* Make sure you get the correct name of the person and organisation
* Check that they are properly authorised by the FSA by visiting http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/
* Report the matter to the FSA either by calling 0845 606 1234 or visiting http://www.fsa.gov.uk
* If the calls persist, hang up.

The FSA also maintains on its website a list of unauthorised overseas firms who are targeting, or have targeted, UK investors and any approach from such organisations should be reported to the FSA so that this list can be kept up to date and any other appropriate action can be considered.

Please note if you deal with an unauthorised firm, you would not be eligible to receive payment under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

The FSA can be contacted by completing an online form at:
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/doing/regulated/law/alerts/overseas.shtml

More detailed information on this or similar activity can be found on the FSA website:
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/

WARNING: We have recently been made aware of questionable approaches to Shareholders by a company operating out of New York called the Easton Consultancy. This maybe a scam and has been reported.

See also: http://www.sec.gov/answers/advancefeefraud.htm

26/05/2011

London and New York, 26th May 2011.  London based real-time market data systems specialist Arcontech and New York based West Highland Support Services (WHSS) are pleased to announce the appointment of WHSS to provide pre and post sale support for Arcontech’s best-of-breed real-time market data systems.

The agreement strengthens Arcontech’s 24/7 global support capability and broadens the range of WHSS’s expertise portfolio to include Arcontech’s CityVision product suite covering multi-vendor contributions, vendor independent real-time publishing to and from Excel, alternative distribution technology and integration with Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg market data platforms.

Andrew Miller, CEO of Arcontech said: “We are delighted to be working with West Highland.  We have been impressed with their knowledge in the market data space and their immediate grasp of our technology and the opportunities it presents for mutual business expansion. With increasing potential and number of installations in the New York area, it makes sense for us to partner with a specialist who can demonstrate a reputation and strong track record in the industry”

Together with support resources in Europe and Asia, Arcontech’s operation can now provide ‘follow-the sun’ support from centres in the local time-zone, coordinated by a global 24/7 helpdesk.

Steven Roe, CEO of WHSS added: “Adding Arcontech’s CityVision to our supported product set makes sense for us as a neutral provider of support services.  There is complete overlap in our target markets but no competition for business between us.  It’s a good fit.”

04/04/2011

London, 4th April 2011. Algorithmica Research AB and Arcontech PLC are pleased to announce that bi-directional connectivity between Quantlab and CityVision has been completed and has been made available to the marketplace.

The collaborative initiative allows Quantlab to subscribe to real-time data from CityVision sources, including internal contributors and pricing applications. Quantlab’s powerful real-time evaluation engine can then simulate various analysis and trading scenarios and publish the results to other users and destinations, including vendors such as Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg, via the CityVision real-time data distribution platform.

The integration has been achieved using the CityVision C++ API.

Commenting on the joint development, Andrew Miller, CEO of Arcontech said: “We are delighted to be working with Algorithmica. This is an excellent example of collaboration using alternative technologies to achieve cost savings and enhanced results. The direct connection to CityVision means that trading and analysis desks are now able to share data and derived results from Algorithmica’s powerful Quantlab product in real-time with little or no additional infrastructure and without incurring the costs often associated with other platforms.”

Niclas Holm, CEO and co-founder of Algorithmica said: “We were pleased that the development using CityVision was straightforward and swift. The connectivity makes Quantlab an even more cost-effective and versatile tool for creating quantitative analysis solutions, and we have in fact already begun deploying at our first mutual client, where Quantlab is used for automatic pricing and trading of corporate bonds. We look forward to working with Arcontech on many opportunities in the coming months.”

21/03/2011

London, 21st March 2011.  Following the release of the latest version in January, Arcontech is pleased to announce contracts with a number of new clients for its CityVision “Excelerator” add-in for real-time market data functionality within Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.

The clients range in size and function from a smaller UK hedge fund to the US based broker-dealer operation of a large international bank.

The new clients have been acquired following extensive evaluation programmes, during which many client suggestions were incorporated into the product, addressing some specific needs for deployment in mission critical positions.

Common factors leading to Excelerator being chosen over competitive products have been the speed and control of updates into and from the spreadsheet, plus the ease of deployment. Andrew Miller, CEO of Arcontech said: “In this age of ultra low-latency and DMA trading Excel still remains prevalent on the dealing desktop and its performance is truly important. Users report that Excelerator is significantly faster to get data into the sheet, which can mean the difference between hitting or missing an available price or quantity.”

The innate performance is a key attribute of Excelerator, adding value, for example, when connected directly to an RMDS platform. However, when coupled with other CityVision components and data sources, it is possible to radically reduce the time-to-trade, for example by monitoring news headlines for interest rate changes, and setting a trading trigger accordingly.  Speed of contributions from Excel is also important and users report a clear advantage over other products when using Excelerator.

The abilities to pop-out user configurable market data displays, including full ANSI inter dealer broker pages, save and restore layouts and ‘shred’ data back to the sheet with simple drag and drop, all add to viability of the Excel/Excelerator combination as a real-time market data desktop.

Miller added: “The value proposition is clear; Excelerator can reduce considerably the cost per dealer over bundled packages, particularly when contributions, internal data or direct feeds are important. It’s encouraging that we’re seeing take-up on both the sell-side and the buy-side.”

25/10/2010

London, 25th October 2010.  Arcontech, the real-time market data technology specialist has today announced the Linux version of its CityVision market data distribution and vendor contribution platform.  The new version has completed rigorous internal tests and is currently being installed for user acceptance testing.

The latest CityVision version recognises market demand for Linux, particularly from North America and in larger investment banks where Microsoft Windows is not popular in server rooms and Solaris is not seen as a strategic operating system.

As with the Solaris version released last year, Arcontech’s innovative use of its own real-time micro kernel has enabled re-use of the proven code base of the CityVision for Microsoft Windows™ and CityVision for Solaris™ versions by providing an abstraction layer from the underlying operating system. This approach reduces both the effort required and the risk of introducing programming errors, since core logic does not need to be reworked.

Interoperability between all three operating system versions has been ensured meaning that migration is simple and can be achieved without system downtime. This is due to CityVision’s fully dynamic hot-standby feature, where parts of the resilient system are taken off-line and upgraded to a new operating system while the other parts continue to service the load. Once re-synchronised, the other parts are upgraded similarly.

Performance also benefits from micro-kernel software engineering.  According to Andrew Miller, CEO of Arcontech, “Taking full advantage of multi-threading and multi-processing capabilities of Linux together with modern multi-core processors, we are seeing exceptional throughput and reduced latency, even in virtualised environments. This is important with the ever increasing fully-loaded cost of CPUs; CityVision users can get better performance with fewer boxes.”

The Linux version of CityVision can, of course, be co-located with existing Linux systems.  This can further reduce hardware requirements and the need for additional operating system skills and resource within market data service departments.

Andrew Miller added: “We’re seeing strong interest in Linux deployments with several new contracts dependent on its availability.  This is another example of us staying ahead of the competition in terms of features, reliability, availability and flexibility.”

08/09/2010

Arcontech announces CityVision “Self Expression” contributions rules engine

London, 7 September 2010.  Arcontech, the leading independent provider of market data contributions and real-time platform integration software, has announced “Self Expression”, a significant upgrade to its CityVision market data platform, with particular benefits for MVCS, its best of breed multiple vendor contribution platform.

CityVision Self Expression is a flexible, user programmable rules engine which controls and transforms data as it passes from various sources to various destinations.  It performs on-the-fly calculations in real-time, including data sanity checking and can withdraw, change or qualify data output depending on the results.

Calculations and validations are defined in a new simple-to-use windows interface, using functions, operators and syntax similar to those used in Microsoft Excel. Using Self Expression users can, for example, define rules to calculate mid prices from bid and ask, check and raise alerts for unusually large price movements compared against the price history. CityVision Self Expression can also produce different sets of tradable prices for different outputs.  This is useful, for example, to produce different buy and sell prices for clients, trading partners or venues with different credit ratings or trading conditions.

Time-out rules and actions can be defined so, for example, data can be monitored to check that it updates sufficiently frequently during the normal trading day and to prevent updates out of hours

Users can assign different levels of importance to various validation failures, which are reflected by status colouring in the GUI.  Integration with automated monitoring systems is supported by output to log files with user defined logging levels. Errors are also reported in real time on the status feed which is available across the CityVision platform and accessible via displays, the API and could even be published onto Thomson Reuters RMDS.

Andrew Miller, Managing Director of Arcontech commented: “The Self-Expression idea started with client requests for simple, specific calculations and validations.  We soon realised that requirements differed greatly between installations and so embarked on this major development, aimed at giving end-users fine, dynamic and flexible control of data in transit.”

CityVision Self Expression is in Beta test and is scheduled for Q4 release.

Notes for Editors

About Arcontech Group Plc

Arcontech Group Plc’s (AIM: ARC) key trading subsidiary is Arcontech Limited.
Founded in 1979, Arcontech is real-time software specialist providing products and bespoke systems for collection, processing, distribution and presentation of time-sensitive financial markets data.
Arcontech is independent of any data vendor (such as Thomson Reuters or Bloomberg) and has thrived due to timely delivery of dependable, cost-effective solutions to the financial community based on its award winning CityVision product suite.  Its diverse clients range from National Government, Banks and Data Vendors through to Internet Bookmakers.
Arcontech installed its first digital market data products in 1983 and has continually developed new, innovative systems and products, adopting leading edge technology, proven in the marketplace.
Arcontech has experience of a wide range of technical concepts and applications and the ability to combine the best from each. Key areas of expertise include:

• Real-time market data systems
• Multi vendor data contribution
• Contracts for difference trading and spread betting systems
• Real-time data collection and distribution
• Consulting and custom development

CityVision

CityVision supports collection, aggregation and redistribution of market data in real-time from multiple sources to multiple destinations. Sources can include exchanges, MTFs (Multi-lateral Trading Facilities in MiFID speak) and data contributions from the spreadsheets and trading systems of the pan-European investment banking community.  Destinations include multiple vendor contributions, dealing desk displays, Microsoft Excel, real-time streaming web updates and on-line trading applications.

CityVision continued.
CityVision is fast, flexible, fully resilient, scalable and secure, with a full authentication and entitlements system. The system is extensible to receive instruments in any asset class, from hundreds of contributors and to provide controlled re-distribution.
CityVision can interoperate with other systems (such as Thomson Reuters RMDS and exchanges) via existing de-facto standards (such as Market link SSL and FIX) and via its own comprehensive APIs. This means it can provide cost effective solutions to add value to or replace incumbent systems.

AXE
Arcontech’s AXE is a complete system for on-line and telephone based Contracts for Difference (CFD) trading and spread betting. It is a fully featured product using our award winning CityVision components, combined with proven customer, deal, order and position management software.  It’s fast and resilient with automatic recovery from server and/or network failure and instant failover to contingency systems. Support for multiple currencies, different languages and graphics re-skinning mean it can be deployed quickly to suit customers’ own branding without the need for costly custom building – meaning customers can get to market fast.

Contacts
Andrew Miller – 020 7256 2300
Sarah Wisbey – 020 7562 7486
sarah@arcontech.com

20/05/2010

London, 20th May 2010.  Arcontech, the leading independent provider of market data contributions and real-time platform integration software, has announced the latest version of its CityVision DNA (.NET API), first introduced in February 2008.  DNA is an advanced interface which allows firms using the Microsoft .NET environment to greatly reduce the time and skills needed to develop sophisticated market data algorithms.  It enables programmatic interaction with other services and systems connected via the CityVision real—time market data middleware.

The latest release gives developers the full advantage of enhancements in the underlying CityVision Platform to send and retrieve data in real-time from multiple sources and destinations.

An important addition is the ability to connect directly to the Thomson Reuters RMDS infrastructure using RFA (the Reuters Foundation Architecture), with automatic configuration.  This effectively ‘wraps’ the RFA libraries with a C# interface, giving .NET developers the ability to write true real-time applications more reliably in a fraction of the time and with far fewer lines of code. Most common tasks can be achieved by using just a single line of code.  Less coding means less chance of bugs and less overhead in developer hours, saving time and money.

DNA supports full multi-threading, allowing programmes to take maximum advantage of the load scaling capabilities of today’s multiple processor, multi-core computers and operating systems.  This is particularly significant for complex, high throughput and time-critical functions such as algorithmic trading interfaces, because it allows code simplification and provides predictable performance under continuous heavy load conditions.

Andrew Miller, Managing Director of Arcontech commented: “DNA has two modes of operation, synchronous and asynchronous.  Synchronous mode supports high functionality with absolutely minimal code, whereas asynchronous mode allows for truly high performance, still with relatively trivial coding, the API handling all the technical detail.  DNA is generating considerable interest with clients and prospects and has already been used in a number of successful developments, including broker trading systems integration.”

16/04/2010

London, 16 April 2010.  Following significant new contracts in 2009 and the addition of advanced features in response to client feedback, Arcontech will release, this quarter, version 3 of CityVision Excelerator, its real-time market data “add-in” for Microsoft Excel™. The upgrade is designed to further improve usability, flexibility and compatibility as well as easing migration from competitive products.

The Excelerator product allows traders and analysts to bring real-time data into their spreadsheets from multiple sources, including the Reuter RMDS platform, internal data and other non fee-liable services. It also allows contribution of data from the desktop to multiple destinations, including data vendors like Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg. Implementing Excelerator in place of bundled solutions from data vendors can lead to considerable cost savings as well operational streamlining and increased performance.

Commenting on the forthcoming release, Andrew Miller, CEO of Arcontech said: “This version is inspired by extensive research, trials and constructive feedback from the many banks and brokers we are working with. The redesigned user interface provides a more intuitive look and feel for advanced users, whilst retaining the dynamic approach popular with users.  We have also re-engineered the internals to use our Microsoft .net API (DNA), thereby improving performance and robustness even further and enabling us to build in much requested advanced VBA functionality.”

The new VBA API makes the full power of Excelerator and DNA available from Excel macros, for both real-time publishing and subscription. Users can receive, process and contribute data programmatically, often with a single line of code, without needing to populate spreadsheet cells or set up complex links.

A further area addressed is ease of deployment, integration and conversion, particularly in a Thomson Reuter RMDS environment. The product is now self-configuring, DACS compliant and includes a utility to convert spreadsheets to CityVision formulae which has dealt flawlessly with the most complex spreadsheets presented to it.

“We are seeing that data-vendor independent solutions are increasingly in demand within institutions where choice, cost and future-proofing are important – most firms, in fact”, added Miller. “Excelerator’s ability to connect to and integrate multiple data sources, platforms and domains, means that it is ideal as part of a forward thinking market data strategy.”

Please click here to view details.

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.”

29/04/2009

London, 24th April 2009.  Following evaluation against competitive products, Arcontech has been selected to supply its CityVision Excelerator real-time market data “add-in” for Microsoft Excel™ to a large European bank, replacing the incumbent solution in a cost-cutting exercise.

The Excelerator product allows traders to bring real-time into their spreadsheets from multiple sources, including direct exchange feeds and the Reuter RMDS platform. It is extremely simple to use and very fast compared with other products, allowing large spreadsheets to calculate in true real-time or at a controlled update rate if preferred.

Commenting on the win, Andrew Miller, CEO of Arcontech said: “Excelerator has been the best performing add-in for Excel for many years and is already a core component for trading operations globally.  The new features remove barriers to change and mean that firms have a simple path to improved performance and greater flexibility, with potential for greatly reduced costs.  Efficient use of market data budgets is increasingly important and Excelerator, along with intelligent use of internally derived data and alternative data sources such as Chi-X and Equiduct can mean multi-million dollar annual savings in relatively small operations.”

Features in the latest release that proved persuasive in recent evaluations include: the ability to connect directly to RMDS using Tibco Rendezvous multicast as well as point-to-point server connections; user interface features such as dynamic record and field entry; tick and trend highlighting; the ability to run an Excel macro automatically following an update; and the ability to convert multiple complex Reuter PowerPlusPro spreadsheets in one simple operation.

Miller again: “Excelerator really is in a class of its own. Being part of our CityVision suite, it benefits from a combination of features that competitors simply can’t match, like dynamic chain handling, in-cell stale data alerting, price movement visualization, intelligent bandwidth management and instant fail-over combined with platform and vendor independence.”

The latest version 4.0.1 is available now.

03/04/2009

London, 3rd April 2009.  Following a resolution at its AGM, KTS plc (Knowledge Technology Solutions) has changed it name to Arcontech Group plc, incorporating the name of its wholly owned subsidiary, Arcontech Limited, the real-time market data and trading systems software specialist.

KTS plc acquired Arcontech Limited in September 2007 and shortly afterwards appointed Andrew Miller, its managing director as CEO of the Group.  A successful funding round in April 2008 raised £1.2m of investment capital which has been applied in research and development of the “CityVision” enterprise market data platform and “AXE” trading system for retail derivatives.

The KTS “Market Terminal” product and other unprofitable legacy operations have been closed down, removing over £1m of recurring costs from the business and generating cash from the sale of assets.

Group CEO Andrew Miller commented “The change of name marks the end of a difficult period following the acquisition of Arcontech just over a year ago.  However, we have kept to our plan, invested significantly, restructured and rationalised our product offerings and I believe are now well positioned to capitalise when the markets recover.  Even in this climate we are achieving significant new sales, confirming our CityVision market data platform as increasingly attractive to firms of all sizes looking for cost reduction without loss of reliability or functionality.  Our AXE on-line trading product is now live, supporting firms with thousands of users in their spread betting and Contracts for Difference operations and benefiting from our strategic enhancement of real-time trade and risk management.”

10/11/2008

Arcontech Releases AXE version 3.4 for spread betting with a raft of new features

London, 10th November 2008.  Arcontech, the wholly owned subsidiary of KTS plc has released version 3.4 of its AXE trading platform, aimed at brokers offering financial derivatives trading, such as Contracts for Difference (CFDs), to the retail market. Version 3.4 contains many new features, now fully supporting spread betting as well as CFDs.

A significant enhancement is the inclusion of a new interface, written in Microsoft’s .net environment using Arcontech’s proven CityVision DNA real-time API. This utilises the real-time CityVision infrastructure to greatly enhance the performance for trade and order handling as well as significantly improving the on-screen presentation and ease of use for front office dealers.

Optional advanced features are also available, such as a web-delivered application that allows client agents and introducing broker partners of the primary broker to trade on behalf of multiple individual clients quickly and efficiently, and a ‘trading clubs’ facility that allows bulk trades to be conducted as a single action and allocated in defined proportions across multiple accounts.

The new version was released in October and is already live with two customers.

Commenting on the new developments Andrew Miller, managing director of Arcontech said: “We continue to invest significantly in AXE and have undertaken the latest phases in response to and in close liaison with our AXE clients.  We have further exciting developments on the product road map and believe AXE to be the best off-the-shelf product for the market at the current time.  Our ability to customise the ‘look and feel’ and to incorporate specific requirements makes the product a natural choice for firms looking at these lucrative markets”

15/09/2008

Knowledge Technology Solutions plc (“KTS” or “the Company”)

Arcontech/KTS Completes Integration with Equiduct feeds

KTS is pleased to announce that it’s wholly owned subsidiary Arcontech, a real-time software specialist providing products and bespoke systems for collection, processing, distribution and presentation of time-sensitive financial markets data, has completed the introduction of new feed handlers to integrate Equiduct’s data into its CityVision product suite.  This gives customers’ access to the real-time VBBO (Volume-weighted Best Bid/Offer), hybrid order book and trade feeds from the new pan-European stock exchange via off-the-shelf CityVision products, such as Excelerator for real-time data in Microsoft Excel and the CityVision Calculation Engine, which offers high speed data processing to support price comparisons and algorithm trading decisions.

The new development will also provide access to the Equiduct feed via powerful CityVision DNA (dot net api) module, which allows developers using Microsoft’s .net languages rapidly to create high performance applications very simply.  It will also enable CityVision to publish Equiduct data directly onto the Reuters RMDS platform instead of via vendors, thus considerably reducing the latency for delivery.

Andrew Miller, managing director of Arcontech, commented:

“This is another example of the benefits of our independent market data platform components approach. Deploying our FIX engine interface and feed server API greatly reduces development time for basic feed handling and, once that is done correctly, the data is immediately available to the rest of our components. We are now ready, well ahead of the Equiduct live date, to work with firms wishing to take advantage of integration with the new exchange.”

28/07/2008

Arcontech, a real-time software specialist providing products and bespoke systems for collection, processing, distribution and presentation of time-sensitive financial markets data, today announces the appointment, with effect from 24 June, of Chandra Dass as Business Development Manager.

Chandra joins the Company with eighteen years of experience in Business Development and Sales roles at a number of blue chip technology and financial sector, including Tenfore, Misys and IBM. His most recent role was at Tenfore Systems Limited, an independent provider of financial market data and technology solutions, where he built a considerable pipeline of new business opportunities.

Andrew Miller, managing director of Arcontech, commented:

“I am delighted to welcome Chandra to the team at an extremely exciting time for the Company. The business is developing rapidly with increasing numbers of firms turning to Arcontech in response to recent forced upgrades and price increases from competitors. The additional features and benefits that CityVision offers, at competitive rates, in combination with Chandra’s experience and contact base will position us well to capitalise on these opportunities.”

10/06/2008

Knowledge Technology Solutions Plc (“KTS”), a leading provider of real-time data distribution and trading systems, has agreed to sell its Market Terminal subscription service information base to Ionic Information in order to cut operating costs and to develop the Arcontech CityVision trading and market data software businesses.

Alpha Terminal is owned by Ionic Information – an established market leader in the private investor software sector and a growing force in the professional marketplace.

Andrew Miller, CEO of KTS, said:

“Market Terminal is an excellent product but lacks market penetration. Its high overheads have been a continual drain on finances so we have decided to focus on our solutions business which offers better opportunities to drive the Group’s growth and profitability. Our solutions business builds on the strategic acquisition of Arcontech and now comprises three main thrusts: firstly, growing the successful CityVision real-time middleware business; secondly, the new CityVision “AXE” retail trading system; and thirdly, “CityVision Direct” which capitalises on KTS’ Market Terminal technology, to deliver streaming market data direct to end-users, as we have done with the successful web portal for Equiduct.

“Having held discussions with all of the leading terminal providers, Ionic demonstrated that they had the product, enthusiasm and commitment to best serve our clients going forward. They had already been providing stiff competition to our offering and have worked with us to provide clients with a very straight-forward migration.”

Martin Stamp, Managing Director of Ionic, said:

“The UK-focused investment and trading sector is a key growth market for us and we are delighted to have this opportunity to offer Alpha Terminal to KTS clients. We are confident that this deal represents an excellent outcome for Ionic, KTS and its clients.”

11/03/2008

KTS Plc, a leading provider of web-delivered real-time market data solutions, has created a new website to emphasise its new focus following the recent acquisition of Arcontech.

The site highlights the benefits of both KTS and Arcontech products and promotes specific specialities such as Contracts for Difference (CFDs) trading and enterprise level data distribution systems. Users can now navigate faster and more effectively around the site, enabling them more easily to find suitable products and services from KTS/Arcontech.

Andrew Miller, CEO of KTS Plc commented: “KTS and Arcontech have world class technology. The commercial viability of using the combined technologies is evidenced by the recent selection of KTS by Borse Berliner for its Equiduct web portal. Our new website provides a starting point for those seeking enterprise level solutions in many areas of real-time data acquisition, distribution and on-line trading”.

The website is available from both http://www.arcontech.com and http://www.ktsplc.com

03/03/2008

Following its successful implementation of Arcontech’s CityVision StarNet market data platform, Tradition Group (http://www.traditiongroup.com/uk) has extended this system to manage contributions to Bloomberg in London. The migration of the Bloomberg contributions from the previous system was achieved in a matter of days.

The Tokyo hub has also been rolled-out, to support local contributions to a number of vendors in that region. The deployment, achieved within a week, is integrated with the London hub and provides seamless data transfer between the locations. Other data collection hubs throughout the world are in the process of roll-out. Currently the data platform collects data from 10 offices globally with further expansion planned for 2008.

The StarNet system collects data from various sources, including in-house trading systems and numerous Excel spreadsheets. It enables managed real-time publishing to many destinations, including Reuters, Bloomberg and Tradition’s RMDS platform, as well as to other global offices.

Commenting on these improvements Dominique Velter, Strategic Marketing Director at Tradition said: “We chose the Arcontech system over competitors because we were convinced that it would meet our growing business requirements quickly and efficiently.”

Andrew Miller, managing director of Arcontech, added: “It’s great to be involved with a dynamic and forward-thinking firm like Tradition. They recognised the potential for cost and operational efficiency offered by StarNet and have implemented an innovative architecture using our off-the-shelf products.”

27/02/2008

Arcontech – a leading developer of real-time market data software and wholly owned subsidiary of KTS plc – today unveiled CityVision dna the latest addition to its multi-award-winning CityVision software suite.

The new component, short for CityVision dot net api, allows software engineers using Microsoft’s .net development environment to write applications to interoperate with Arcontech’s CityVision StarNet real-time market data platform, to send and retrieve data in real-time using multiple sources and destinations, taking advantage of the full multi-threading capabilities and power of today’s multi-core, multiple processor computers.

This advanced software is particularly important for developers of true real-time applications, such as algorithmic trading interfaces because it allows them, easily, to access, process and re-distribute data faster than before, meaning that opportunities for profit can be detected and acted on ahead of the competition. Other products and technologies can restrict applications to a single core or are unreliable under continuous heavy load conditions.

dna should be very attractive to hedge funds, arbitrage dealers and modellers with intense processing requirements, where speed of response is crucial. Also, less skilled developers with simpler requirements will appreciate the simplicity of the interfaces.

The software has been developed using advanced techniques with extensive automated unit testing [1] and continuous integration. Consequently it is extremely robust and can perform under extreme load conditions.

Andrew Miller, managing director of Arcontech and CEO of KTS said: “CityVision dna is easy to use allowing custom applications to be developed inexpensively and deployed more quickly. In the same way as genetic engineering strives for perfection, CityVision dna allows reengineering at the core of real-time systems to improve the performance and reliability, Naturally, it is compatible with all CityVision servers, so existing investment by our clients is protected and value can be added easily and rapidly.

“Its high performance is not only because DNA is thread safe[2], but also the internal code is highly multi-threaded, allowing DNA to take advantage of even the most advanced multi core servers. Scaling an application across multiple StarNet servers can provide even greater performance if required.”

The technical details and benefits of the CityVision dna system include:

* Two modes of operation supported across the entire range of objects, synchronous and asynchronous.
* Synchronous mode allows the majority of feed tasks to be written in one line of code.
* Asynchronous mode allows for dynamic real-time date reception.
* A clean concise interface, every object having the absolute minimum amount of properties, methods and events to be able to get the job done. The objects are extremely easy to code with.
* Common object structure, each object has the same structure as every other, so once the user learns to use one (which is easy) they are all the same to use.

1 A unit test exercises “a unit” of production code in isolation from the full system and checks that the results are as expected. The size of the unit may vary between a class and a package. The importance of unit testing has increased with the invention of ‘extreme programming’, a methodology introduced to reduce the cost of software development. In this approach, a developer should write unit tests even before writing the actual code.

2 A piece of code is thread-safe if it functions correctly during simultaneous execution by multiple threads. In particular, it must satisfy the need for multiple threads to access the same shared data, and the need for a shared piece of data to be accessed by only one thread at any given time. (Source Wikipedia).

01/01/2008

Knowledge Technology Solutions plc (“KTS”, “the Company”) Completion of the acquisition of Arcontech Limited Admission of New Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM

16 January 2008, Berlin / London: BÅ¡rse Berlin announced today that it has selected KTS Plc, a leading provider of real-time market data solutions, to develop and provide ongoing hosting for the Web Portal giving online access to real-time market data to be produced by BÅ¡rse Berlin Equiduct Trading at the launch of its new pan- European trading platform ETS. The system will be accessible via the BÅ¡rse Berlin Equiduct Trading website from April 2008 enabling users to view the Equiduct VBBO (Virtual Best Bid/Offer). Pre and post trade data from its Hybrid and PartnerEx market segments will come online in mid 2008.

“We have chosen an established market data vendor for this project to avoid ‘reinventing the wheel’ and to enable us to concentrate on providing the best quality exchange services for our participants. We have found a partner who will be responsive to our evolving needs and one with whom we can work together to enhance and build a truly beneficial source of data for our clients.” says Rob Brouwer, Chief Information Officer, Equiduct Systems.

Andrew Miller, CEO of KTS, comments: “The financial markets are evolving rapidly to include many non-traditional execution venues. KTS supports the innovation of firms like BÅ¡rse Berlin Equiduct Trading by providing tailored solutions for the consolidation and display of market data along with a managed hosting service.”

“BÅ¡rse Berlin Equiduct Trading will be an important venue resulting from the regulatory changes introduced by MiFID. Our selection is evidence of our strong positioning and ability to address these and other large scale opportunities. As the first commercial project to use both Arcontech’s low-latency middleware and KTS’s proven flexible, browser-delivered display technology, it represents an endorsement of our strategy to combine these two businesses. We are delighted to be part of this venture.” adds Miller.

Artur Fischer, Joint Chief Executive Officer, BÅ¡rse Berlin adds “We believe that the Equiduct VBBO will become the European benchmark price as part of each investment firm’s equity best execution policy. The full depth of the virtual book, from which the VBBO is derived, will be used to calculate volume weighted execution prices as part of the PartnerEx segment of the BÅ¡rse Berlin Equiduct Trading market thus differentiating Equiduct VBBO from other consolidated data feeds.”
About BÅ¡rse Berlin Equiduct Trading

Bšrse Berlin has consistently aligned its service offerings to the requirements of modern exchange trading. Trading foreign shares is its specialty. The foreign share- market was developed in the mid-nineties and has been continually extended. With the majority stake in Equiduct, Bšrse Berlin starts a process of newly positioning itself. The aim is to use the opportunities that the European Directive in Financial Markets (ÒMiFIDÓ) offers.

For more information please visit http://www.boerse-berlin.com

About Equiduct Systems

Equiduct Systems will provide the first MiFID-compliant, integrated pan-European single point of connectivity for trading services through the regulated market operated by BÅ¡rse Berlin. Equiduct’s unique market model addresses the four key requirements of best execution, enabling guaranteed execution at the lowest cost and at the best price with less than 10 milliseconds turnaround time.

For more information please visit http://www.equiduct.eu
About KTS

Knowledge Technology Solutions PLC is a leading provider of real-time market data solutions. KTS has been established in London’s financial district, the City, since 1999 and is a public company listed on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: KTS). In 2007, KTS acquired Arcontech Ltd., a specialist in real-time market data distribution and trading systems as part of its strategic initiative to provide enterprise level systems for the financial markets.

For more information please visit http://www.ktsplc.com and http://www.arcontech.com

18/12/2007

Knowledge Technology Solutions plc (“KTS”, “the Company”) Completion of the acquisition of Arcontech Limited Admission of New Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM

17/12/2007

Arcontech, a leading developer of real-time market data software, has won an award for the best real-time market data management solution – its fourth industry award in 13 months.

Financial-i magazine, together with leading analyst firms and industry figures, selected Arcontech to receive the award at the annual Leaders in Innovation Awards.

The awards were decided based upon product innovation over the last 12 months, specifically looking at companies that have demonstrated their ability to innovate, whether in terms of business strategy or the development of wholesale transaction banking solutions, and for that innovation to have significantly impacted customers in terms of their ability to deploy business solutions cost effectively, more readily interact and integrate them with other applications, and the ability to use these solutions to solve business specific issues or concerns.

Andrew Miller, managing director at Arcontech, said: “This is the second year in a row for Arcontech, and I am delighted at the recognition from such a prestigious publication. It proves that the teamwork, hard graft and strategic significance of CityVision StarNet have not gone unnoticed.

“The applicability and readiness of CityVision’s innovative data publication, aggregation and controlled re-distribution capabilities in a MiFID context are bound to have been factors in the decision.”

This is the second year that Arcontech has been recognised by Financial-i, having been awarded ‘Most Innovative real-time data management’ in 2006. It is also their third award this year having won two awards for ‘Best Market Data Management System’ and ‘The best Best Execution initiative’ at The Banker’s awards in June 2007 continuing a 5 year run.

29/10/2007

Cross-border customers and retail derivatives markets, such as Contracts for Difference (CfD) and Spread Betting, will be two areas presenting significant opportunity after the introduction on 1 November of MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) predicts Andrew Miller, Managing Director of Arcontech (part of KTS plc). Arcontech is an award-winning City software firm whose specialist products are being used by dozens of financial institutions affected by MiFID.

Andrew Miller says: “I anticipate that the MiFID passporting regulations will lead to a growing swell of competition in many regions, particularly with UK firms expanding into continental Europe. Firms within countries which may be expecting ‘business as usual’ may be in for some surprises, especially as banks in some countries are reported to be collaborating over MiFID in a protectionist manner.

“For example, MiFID allows UK firms which are regulated and expert in providing retail services to operate on a pan-European basis without further regulation and with very little operational change. Likewise, the UK market will be vulnerable to players large and small from European countries that may not have such strict governance as that provided by the FSA in the UK.

“Exchanges and data vendors such, as Reuters and Bloomberg, may also be exposed. Currently they make considerable income through charging investment banks for data contribution and distribution services. Thanks to MiFID, new platforms – such as Chi-X and the proposed Projects Boat and Turquoise – will lead to cheaper market data and a shifting of liquidity to more cost-effective venues, threatening the status quo.

“Many firms are not ready and will take several months to be anywhere near complying. One of the biggest changes will be around “best execution” which, put simply, is ensuring you get the best deal for your client when you buy them equities, bonds or other financial instruments. It sounds simple, but is actually fiendishly complex as price is only one consideration and there is an obligation to keep records for many years to prove that a firm acted in accordance with its execution policy at the time. Depending on the policy, this may require data from a large number of sources, not all of which may be available cost-effectively via a single source. You can imagine that sophisticated software will be needed to collect, record and analyse this data.

“Spread-betting is another rapidly growing area which is likely to suffer considerable regulatory impact through MiFID’s requirements, but many areas appear unclear and some firms are late in their preparations. UK spread-betting firms that are prepared have considerable opportunity to expand into new EU markets.”

20/09/2007

Arcontech, the award-winning developer of mission-critical software for real-time market data transmission and trading, which was recently acquired by KTS, has been awarded a significant contract to provide contract for difference (CFD) and spread betting trading platforms to Hichens Harrison, the City’s oldest firm of stock brokers.

The contract comprises Arcontech’s AXE software suite to provide a trading platform for web-based online trading, a high performance price calculation engine, order management and position keeping and a full back office administration system.

Dr. Marc Pinter-Krainer, Chief Executive of KTS, commented:

“I am delighted to be able to announce this major contract win for our Arcontech subsidiary. We are pleased to add Hichens Harrison, with its 203-year heritage to our blue chip client base that includes national treasury, central banking and major investment banking firms as well as supporting many other online CFD and spread betting operations. Hichens Harrison’s decision to use Arcontech’s software is a tremendous endorsement of the quality of the product, and this reinforces my confidence that Arcontech will make an important contribution to KTS over the coming years.”

Adam Wilson, Chief Executive of Hichens Harrison, commented:

“Arcontech’s high quality technology is the perfect update to our CFD and spread betting capabilities. Arcontech’s solution offers excellent reliability and functionality, and will help us broaden our online service offering, allowing us to continue our commitment to offering the highest quality service to our clients.”

05/09/2007

Knowledge Technology Solutions plc (“KTS”, “the Company”) Completion of the acquisition of Arcontech Limited Admission of New Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM

Knowledge Technology Solutions plc, a provider of professional market information services in the finance sector, is pleased to announce that its acquisition of Arcontech Limited (“Arcontech”) was completed today following the admission of the Placing and Consideration Shares to trading on AIM.

This follows the announcement, on 3 September 2007 that the Company had successfully completed a placing of 111,111,111 new ordinary shares (“Placing Shares”) to raise approximately £930,000 net of expenses in additional working capital and the announcement, on 7 August 2007, of KTS’ intention to acquire Arcontech, the award-winning provider of middleware solutions for institutional, vendor and brokerage customers.

Arcontech is an award winning specialist software company, founded in 1979, specialising in middleware solutions for real time publishing, distribution and aggregation of financial data, which can be integrated into any software platform. It has strong and contractual relationships with a broad base of blue chip customers including major investment banks, data vendors and leading spread betting and Contracts For Difference (CFD) brokerages.

Arcontech’s CityVision suite is highly scaleable, being able to easily accommodate from one to hundreds-of- thousands of users whilst its CityVision’s StarNet components extend the suite to facilitate the immediate, simultaneous and secure delivery of market data to financial institutions via multiple networks and the internet. It can deliver very high message rates with exceptionally low latency.

Dr Marc Pinter-Krainer, KTS’ Chief Executive, said:

“City firms are currently facing unprecedented demands on their market data infrastructure and information technology, particularly in the light of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) which is expected to come into effect on 1 November 2007.

“The combination of KTS’ proven front end display application MarketTerminal with Arcontech’s award-winning middleware products puts us in the unique position of being able to offer a full product set into this market, which we believe will be highly compelling to new and existing customers.”

03/09/2007

Arcontech – a leading developer of real-time market data software – today unveiled its AXE software product, aimed at brokers and start-ups wishing to cash-in on the burgeoning market for Contract for Difference (CfD) trading and Spread Betting.

The AXE software utilises the award winning CityVision real-time software, coupled with 4th generation trading software, making it one of the most feature-rich and high performance business-to-consumer products for CfD and Spread Betting in the marketplace.

Contracts for Difference now account for a third of the UK’s share trading activity and Spread Betting is a lucrative market, with many reporting business up substantially on last year, with some saying they won more new clients in the first half of 2007 than they did in the whole of 2006.

This latest product launch from Arcontech reflects its ongoing strategy away from custom-made systems, whilst still delivering high quality products. It aims to use its experience in these markets to repeat the success of it award winning CityVision enterprise middleware.

Andrew Miller, managing director of Arcontech, says: “We have had a strong offering and great track record in integrating our web and pricing technology with firms’ existing trading systems. We now offer a well rounded full trading system also, making AXE an ideal fast-to-market choice”.

01/09/2007

Arcontech, a leading developer of real-time market data software, has launched CityVision Calculation Engine, the latest addition to its award-winning CityVision software suite.

CityVision, Arcontech’s platform for real-time data publishing, is well established and proven with major City institutions. The CityVision Calculation Engine (CCE) adds power to the platform by enabling high performance calculations on data from a wide range of sources (such as data feeds, internal data and spreadsheets). The derived data is then available for publishing in real-time to many destinations including trading systems, third party systems like Microsoft Excel and Reuters RMDS, and data re-distributors (such as Reuters and Bloomberg), as well as direct to customers via the internet and web.

The CCE is capable of many thousands of transformations per second, operating in true real-time with low latency. It achieves amazing performance from standard Wintel PCs, with full real-time reporting of pricing anomalies. It provides full Application Programming Interface (API) support for both pricing and status mean that integration with advanced algorithmic trading system is simplified – early users have reported speed improvement of around 30ms over existing systems – which can be vital for securing the best deals ahead of the competition.

Andrew Miller, the managing director of Arcontech, said: “This is an important addition to our CityVision suite, particularly in support of pricing for on-line trading, such as our recently announced AXE trading system.

“It also has value in MiFID best execution and market monitoring scenarios, as it handles multiple sources and can be programmed according to individual execution policies. Its modular approach means that functionality can be added without the need to rebuild, speeding up development cycles and improving reliability.”

The new CityVision Calculation Engine provides:

• The ability for users to create “plug-in” calculations to their own specification;
• Support for record and chain-based calculations;
• Plug ‘n’ play integration with other CityVision components to distribute results over intranets and internet works, such as the Web and BT Radianz;
• Integrates with market data platforms (e.g. Triarch/RMDS) and Microsoft SQL Server;
• Custom integration via APIs for Java, C++ and .net;
• Windows GUI and API for calculation configuration;
• Scalable Wintel architecture.

25/06/2007

Knowledge Technology Solutions PLC (KTS), providers of professional market information services in the finance sector, is pleased to announce that MarketTerminal – its internet-delivered real-time information service – is fully compatible with Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system, and Internet Explorer 7.

According to KTS, banks, brokers and other financial professionals are increasingly demanding live market data display applications that can run on Windows Vista, the operating system released by Microsoft for business users in October 2006 after a reported five years in development.

MarketTerminal, first launched in 2002, employs KTS’s unique ASP technology platform, which allows clients to receive automatically all upgrades (including Vista compatibility), without having to install additional hardware or software.

Dr Marc Pinter-Krainer, Chief Executive of KTS PLC, said:

“We have been approached by clients of a major market data display application vendor requesting MarketTerminal because their provider is not Windows Vista compatible. Anyone facing this situation will be pleased to hear that our popular MarketTerminal service is fully compatible with Windows Vista and IE 7. New MarketTerminal users can be up and running in a matter of minutes and access essential equities prices, news and analytics from their Windows Vista desktop.”

For a MarketTerminal demonstration and free trial call KTS on 020 7256 2300.
Notes to Editors:

MarketTerminal was launched in 2002 as an internet-based on-line service for professionals. The service is highly user friendly due to its simple point and click means of obtaining data. MarketTerminal is a very portable service which can be accessed from any internet connection including the Blackberry and other PDAs. It enables financial practitioners to access essential financial information anywhere, anytime.
Enquiries, please contact:

Dr Marc Pinter-Krainer
Knowledge Technology Solutions PLC
020 7256 2300

Neil Boom
Gresham PR
020 7404 9000

14/06/2007

Arcontech – a leading developer of real-time market data software – has announced the first independent feed handler for Chi-X, the recently launched pan-European ATS (to be known as a multi-lateral trading facility on the introduction of MiFID). This brings free market data a step closer by enabling Chi-X data to be distributed via Arcontech’s CityVision StarNet applications, used by financial institutions for publishing market data on large networks and the Internet.

The Chi-X Handler will become part of Arcontech’s EuroVision suite (announced earlier this year) that helps institutions with their new MiFID obligations regarding pre and post trade reporting and best execution.

Chi-X offers its market data at no cost to qualifying organisations and Arcontech’s CityVision makes this data easily available and in a vendor-independent way.

Andrew Miller, managing director of Arcontech, said: “We are finding that more firms want to take data direct from the source, for reasons such as quality and speed. If more data sources follow the Chi-X example of providing free market data, then the cost of traditional vendors will become an issue. Our software will give firms direct and cost-effective access to the emerging venues and price sources.”

Hirander Misra, Director of Instinet Chi-X Limited, said: “Chi-X seeks to provide investors with a faster, cheaper and smarter alternative for trading European equities. We welcome Arcontech’s Chi-X handler, which will help our clients access Chi-X market data whilst also meeting MiFID requirements.”
Technical details:

The new Arcontech handler takes the real-time CHIX MD protocol feed and constructs the full order book, normalising the data into ISIN symbology and categorising by market. It then creates the best bid/offer ladder and maintains it in real-time.

The data is available for access via any of CityVision’s StarNet distribution applications. These include: the Excelerator real time add-in for Microsoft Excel; the JClient browser-based displays; the CityVision Publisher for Reuters, a direct interface into RMDS; and a variety of APIs in popular languages giving third parties simple unified access for custom applications such as algorithmic trading.

01/06/2007

Arcontech, a leading developer of real-time market data software, has taken first place in two categories in the prestigious 2007 The Banker Technology awards announced today.

The Banker magazine, together with leading analyst firms and consultants from the banking industry, selected Arcontech to receive the awards for the ‘best market data management system’ and ‘best best execution initiative’ ahead of many other high quality entrants.

The awards recognise the continual improvement of Arcontech’s CityVision StarNet low latency market data platform. Key factors included proven global deployment and its swift return on investment, combined with its flexibility and scalability. These make StarNet ideal in fast-moving organisations where requirements are changing dynamically and fast deployment remains critical. Arcontech’s strategic applications in areas such as on-line and mobile trading and its MiFID Eurovision “best execution” initiative were also important differentiators.

The awards are in their fifth year and received a record number of entries. They were decided based upon new concepts and ideas that allow financial services businesses to get ahead of the competition, highlighting vendors who have made a real contribution within financial institutions over the past 12 months and innovation was the key.

Andrew Miller, managing director at Arcontech said: “Recognition from The Banker is one of the most prestigious accolades a company in financial services IT can win. It is a testament to the team and proves that our hard work has not gone unnoticed”.

Arcontech has gained recognition from The Banker for four consecutive years, winning ‘Networking Initiative of the Year’ award in 2006, gaining a highly commended award for the global inter-networking capabilities its StarNet application in 2005, and winning the ‘Best Technology to the Sell-Side’ award in 2004.

It has also received other awards including, an award for ‘the most innovative real-time data management solution’ from Financial-i magazine in 2006.

01/06/2007

Arcontech – a leading developer of market data software – asserts that its CityVision suite is the fastest application on the market for publishing prices and other data in real time, with latest performance details showing competitors are still struggling to match its speed.

Andrew Miller, managing director of Arcontech, says: “In today’s electronic markets with increasing volumes and high levels of algorithmic trading, speed and throughput are essential since having prices that are ‘behind the market’ by even a fraction of a second can prove costly. In IT jargon, speed is measured by ‘latency’ – the time it takes for a piece of information to get from one point to another. The lower the latency, the more accurate the data is for the user and the lower the risk to the institution.

“I follow competitive announcements with interest, such as the recent release from Gissing that their latest upgrade can now ‘deliver data to its destination in less than a millisecond’. This may be an improvement on their current offering, but I’d be surprised if firms with serious needs were impressed, particularly as no throughput figures or hardware requirements are given. CityVision crossed the millisecond boundary many years ago and now demonstrates latency over ten times lower – well under 100 microseconds – and sustained rates of over 50,000 mps running on $1000 PCs.”

“CityVision continues to be the financial markets’ most complete and flexible industrial-strength true real-time data platform, covering distribution, contribution and on-line trading. It’s used by over a hundred firms with tens of thousands of end users.”

Continuous upgrades ensure that CityVision can rapidly address new opportunities and requirements such as MiFID price transparency, best execution and the burgeoning on-line trading markets. Arcontech technology has recently been selected for on-line trading and price distribution at two new London based dealing operations (yet to be announced but planned to go live later this year).

01/05/2007

Faster than RTD and compatible with Chi-X and other MiFID data sources

Arcontech – a leading developer of real-time market data software – has today unveiled version 4 of CityVision Excelerator, its flagship application for allowing traders, analysts and other market data users to receive data real-time into Microsoft Excel, whether from a network or from the internet.

Andrew Miller, managing director of Arcontech, says: “Excelerator has always been the fastest product in the market, allowing users of market data to publish and exchange data between spreadsheets in true real-time across the globe. It’s like instant messaging for data, with the added ability to manipulate and visualise it in real-time using the full power of Excel.

“Excelerator has been updated to be even faster and to incorporate automatic dynamic control of update rates in anticipation of ever-increasing data volumes as a result of MiFID, and to take account of new trends such as firms looking to distribute internal data and data direct from emerging venues such as Chi-X. We believe Excelerator offers the best overall performance in the market.

“Bankers and analysts are expecting cheaper and higher quality data as a result of MiFID’s price publication obligations. They want to be able to take advantage without being tied into ‘bundled’ vendor products: Excelerator provides a no-compromise solution for those who don’t want to incur the high cost of traditional vendor terminals just to use the Excel components.”

Excelerator is currently licensed by institutions ranging from leading investment banks and brokers, such as Tullett Prebon Information, through to on-line bookmakers such as Sporting Index. It is also provided on a ‘white-labelled’ basis by firms wishing to publish data direct as provided for under MiFID, disintermediating vendors.

Other highlights include:

Users have more choice to suit the way they work: A revised, more efficient RTD approach for simple sheets and ad hoc use; or Arcontech’s own CVCom which is faster and more flexible for larger, structured sheets;

Excelerator incorporates dynamic permission control so that changes to a user’s entitlements are recognised and acted on immediately, another step towards zero down-time for busy dealing rooms;

Excelerator supports pages, records, chains and tickers in true real-time, automatically adjusting for chain content and size changes, signalling stale data and source and service failure. Users will be aware when data is suspect;

A new ‘formula wizard’ allows users to convert spreadsheets from existing providers in bulk or individually, easing migrations;

Dialog boxes automate the creation of formulae from scratch, easing initial setup, whilst context sensitive menus provide one-click conversion between CVCom and RTD;

Users can choose to receive data in real-time or they can opt for a user configurable ‘conflation period’ where rapid updates are collated before updating Excel. This allows large and complex spreadsheets to be built without the processor overload often suffered in busy markets with competitive products.

01/03/2007

Arcontech – a leading developer of real-time market data software has unveiled EuroVision – an application which will help banks and brokers with their best-execution obligations under MiFID.

It will allow firms to check equities prices across any number of pan-European execution venues to give best prices visibility in-line with their best execution policy.

EuroVision (part of Arcontech’s CityVision suite) is a new development for Arcontech, utilising its core components but extending the value-added processing right out to the client, rather than simply providing low-latency data feed technology.

Andrew Miller, Arcontech’s Managing Director, said: “Arcontech’s CityVision suite can help investment firms, data aggregators, data distributors and service providers achieve compliance in the three relevant areas of MiFID: pre-trade quotes, post-trade reporting and best execution.

“Best Execution is a key obligation of MiFID, with the requirement that firms must achieve the best result for their clients, consistent with their execution policy. Our application gives them visibility, not only on those venues where they currently deal, but also across Europe on those that they may wish to consider. We already have one client for the application and anticipate considerable demand.”

EuroVision will take data from multiple exchanges, MTFs (Multilateral Trading facilities) and SIs (Systematic Internalisers), build the order books and depth of market data and then combine the books to produce real-time European Best Bid/Offer (EBBO) displays, in-line with a particular bank’s or broker’s execution policy.

It is also unlimited in terms of the numbers and classes of instruments it can process. It can supply web browsers, Excel spreadsheets and direct low-latency feeds to 3rd party systems. In combination with other value added applications in the range, such as our arbitrage alerter and trades-by-market displays, Eurovision will be a great help to both the buy and sell side of the market.

Andrew Miller continued “Our EuroVision application is particularly powerful since it will monitor any number of exchanges, MTFs and SIs. The CityVision aggregator announced last year takes care of data acquisition from multiple sources in different protocols and normalisation to a standard symbology such as ISIN.

“Utilisation of our user authentication and entitlements system means that users will be able to see data from the venues that are currently relevant to their needs. For example, traders will want to see the EBBO for the venues within their firm’s current policy, whereas those responsible for policy can be given greater permission to review other liquidity pools, assess their suitability and instigate policy change where appropriate.

“This is important since with the new regime of price transparency, clients will be aware of the best prices in the market and are likely to vote with their feet if their intermediary’s policy does not give them access to those markets”.