Innovation of the Year
Packeteer
Packeteer’s PacketShaper platform is an application traffic management system that prioritises and guarantees delivery across the bank’s wide area network. When deployed between a local network and the bank’s network, all applications can be monitored, controlled and accelerated, delivering key applications reliably across the organisation. PacketShaper is unique in being able to classify and shape more than 400 distinct applications. In shaping the traffic through pacing the transmission rate, the delay in time-sensitive applications is reduced and ensures delivery of business critical applications. Recreational activity on the bank network can be controlled to avoid interference with higher priority use. This reduces network congestion, a feature that particularly found favour with the judges. Packeteer secured this award for its management of business critical applications in a cost-effective manner across what is a costly infrastructure.
Packeteer’s Rene Arvin accepts the award for Innovation of the Year
Business Return on investment of the Year
DataSynapse
DataSynapse’s GridServer (see Risk Management Award) wins this award for its outstanding performance at Wachovia Securities. Wachovia is now capable of trading three times more volume and has multiplied 25-fold its modelling simulations. GridServer reduced fixed income application time from a 15-hour end-of-day P&L batch process to a 20-minute intra-day-capable process – distributed across more than 150 machines – and made it 100% fault-tolerant.
The solution will enable Wachovia to enter new markets with its efficiency gains. “Grid computing has already had a significant impact on our ability to meet business objectives,” said Bridget-Anne Hampden, chief investment officer, corporate/ investment banking, at Wachovia. “DataSynapse’s ability to enable a wide range of applications creates a compelling solution with immediately realisable benefits.
Peter Lee of DataSynapse collects the award for Business Return on Investment of the Year
Back Office Application of the Year
Retail Banking: Altamedius
Altamedius’ iCon platform (see also Retail Payments Processing Award) empowers financial institutions and mobile operators with an innovative solution to generate and increase revenue by brokering transactions for digital and physical goods and services. iCon offers consumers micro, macro, mobile person-to-person payments that can be made at any time in a wireless or web environment for new and existing payment methods. It also offers merchants zero integration, business-focused solutions for dynamic pricing, controlled release and partner settlement for premium content and services.
John McCallion receives the award for Back Office Application of the Year in Retail Banking for Altamedius
Investment & Wholesale Banking: Calypso Technology
Calypso is a cross-asset back office application that addresses the functions of accounting, P&L, settlement, reporting, documentation, exception management, positions and validation. Designed to streamline processing, improve straight-through processing and significantly reduce operational costs, it eliminates the need for multiple systems and process centres. Calypso is already being used by such respected names as Dresdner Bank and Wachovia Securities.
Using open architecture and Java technology with more than 100 APIs (application programming interfaces), it enables users to customise the product, if necessary, without touching the source code. The solution is especially impressive for its innovation in the wholesale market, where this is rare.
Paul Bardavid and Charles Marston pick up Calypso Technology’s award for Back Office Application of the Year in Investment & Wholesale Banking
