BT Showcases the Future of Trading Communications

NEW YORK, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- On the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), BT announced the next chapter in its plan to network the global financial community with the launch of its collaboration suite for financial markets.  According to the company, the suite of services offers customers a powerful set of cost-effective, cloud-based services, including a next-generation range of trader voice and collaboration services enabling market professionals the flexibility to interact, collaborate and trade securely - and with greater compliance- via multiple communication channels, across their enterprise and with their clients and counterparties.

According to Andy Nicholson, president, global banking & financial markets, BT: "Our new collaboration suite helps market participants face unprecedented market challenges - and opportunities.  The option of new commercial models offers flexible 'pay-as-you-go' type contracts and cloud-based technology that can be easily scaled up and down which addresses budget constraints. Plus it doesn't require a rip-and-replace of current technology as this new service is compatible with existing infrastructure and the end-user enjoys the familiar look and feel of their existing and trusted interface."

The new suite also allows organizations to migrate to cloud services at their own pace and choose the configuration best suited to their business model.  They can either opt to move entirely to BT's cloud or choose a hybrid configuration.  Enhanced resilience has also been built into the cloud collaboration suite providing firms with additional business continuity options. Users of the service are not constrained by hardware boundaries and employees can easily be deployed quickly and work virtually should the need arise.  Remote monitoring and management tools enable the highest levels of service to be maintained for these mission-critical solutions.

BT's collaboration suite is an integral element of the BT Radianz Managed Infrastructure, making its rich communication and collaboration capabilities readily available to the 14,000 global client sites already connected into the BT Radianz community.  Three key services will make up BT's collaboration suite:

The communication service – a ground-breaking innovation of BT's Integrated Trading Systems (ITS) platform and voice trading capabilities, evolving from proprietary voice-only centralized switching hardware, to switch-less networked software components utilizing the open Session Internet Protocol (SIP).  Firms will benefit from maximum agility, cost-effectiveness, resilience and inter-operability.  This multi-media service is coupled with BT's award winning BT ITS.Netrix turret and gives the freedom of location, device and deployment options.  

The collaboration service – brings together multiple communication channels and market information (voice, video, messaging systems, market data and trading applications) into one consistent 'dashboard' at the desktop or on mobile devices.  Embedded as an integral part of business operations, it allows the user to interact with the market consistently and over many channels of information, dealing with multiple real-time events and allowing faster and more effective opportunity spotting and decision making.  Open and federated directory capability, which deals with identity and trust management, enables secure collaboration between the global financial community.  

The compliance service – by moving into the cloud the ability to record, tag, archive and retrieve all forms of communication, regardless of location and device, regulatory compliance is significantly enhanced.  This means firms will have greater tools to assist them in their efforts to comply with increasingly stringent regulations, as superior tracking and visibility allow for better audit trails.

Andy Nicholson concludes: "There is no doubt that communications are key to success in the financial services market.  The next chapter in our trading communications strategy addresses market and economic issues and offers solutions that truly benefit BT's financial markets clients. These new ground-breaking services drive home BT's leading role as an innovator for the financial services world.

"BT is now working with a number of clients, integrating the capabilities of the collaboration suite into their business applications and helping them plan the evolution of their trading infrastructures to this latest innovation of the BT Radianz Managed Infrastructure.  This will help them manage risks more effectively, grasp opportunity from improved communications and collaboration and reduce costs."

Notes to editor:

Supporting information about what BT offers the global financial services sector:

• The world's top exchanges, top global broker-dealers, top global fixed income securities firms, the world's top investment managers and the world's top hedge funds are all part of the BT Radianz managed infrastructure which is made up of 14,000+ members with access to over 450 service providers.
• One in three traders worldwide use a BT turret.
• Over 25 years' experience of managing delivery to multinational organizations with over 1,500 highly-specialized financial technology and business professionals
• Global reach which extends to over 60 countries and to many developing markets, including Russia, Brazil, Korea and Taiwan, with more new markets to come.  Around 300 customers in Russia are on the BT Network.
• Over 20 million+ card payments worth over 25bn pounds Sterling delivered, authorized, cleared and settled daily over the BT Network every day.

For further information

Enquiries about this news release should be made to the BT Group Newsroom on its 24-hour number: 020 7356 5369. From outside the UK dial + 44 20 7356 5369. All news releases can be accessed at our web site: http://www.btplc.com/News.

About BT

BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in more than 170 countries.  Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to our customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services.  BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, Openreach, BT Retail and BT Wholesale.

In the year ended 31 March 2010, BT Group's revenue was 20,911 million pounds.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group.  BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.  

For more information, visit www.bt.com/aboutbt.

SOURCE BT

WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?

440k+
Newsrooms &
Influencers

9k+
Digital Media
Outlets

270k+
Journalists
Opted In

GET STARTED