Euromoney TRADEDATA confirmed the launch of TRADEDATA Central, its cloud-based platform to boost distribution of golden source futures and options contract, symbology and regulatory data. TRADEDATA Central will enrich the API economy serving fintech and on-demand solutions, offering futures and options data with faster access to intraday refreshed datasets, boasting easy setup and data feed management.  This new platform will power enhanced user experiences through integrated desktop, online and search workflow tools and increase business resilience as a validation or failover data source. TRADEDATA Central easily integrates with third-party developer applications and dynamic trade life-cycle workflows, including regulatory compliance.   It can also provide real-time data transformation to achieve trading system interoperability and offers a lower cost alternative than maintaining large in-house data stores for small to medium firms.

In a statement at the start of the FIA Expo in Chicago, Managing Director of Euromoney TRADEDATA, Mark Woolfenden, said "I am pleased to confirm that we not only have a cloud strategy but a robust cloud solution successfully in place, following an ambitious 18-month project to migrate all of our existing business infrastructure and data management processes into the cloud. Cloud computing perfectly matches our industry role as a data vendor; we can scale costs in line with business growth and intelligently manage the significant increase in data assets we are planning and mitigate what was the constant challenge of rightsizing physical server capacity.

Euromoney TRADEDATA’s Business Development Director, Gregg Whitbread, said “with the release of TRADEDATA Central we open up our extensive data library of hundreds of attributes to the global futures and options community, enabling the selection of data items that exactly meet the need as well as the universe of coverage, whether that be at a market, region, asset class or individual product level.  We strongly believe that users will welcome the whole new level of flexibility this Data as a Service offering and enjoy the benefit of paying only for what they need, when they need it.”

Retailers suffer from a frequent loss of network connectivity, with a significant impact on sales as a result.

•    72 per cent of retailers have suffered a loss of connectivity

•    44 per cent of retailers experience a loss of connectivity every month

•    The cost of a loss of connectivity could be up to 50% of sales for 5 out of 6 retail business operations

CSL, the leading provider of secure connectivity for machine to machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) devices in mission-critical applications, has published the results of a study that highlights how UK retailers are failing to address connectivity concerns and how this is having a negative impact upon operational procedures.

In one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind into the issue of retail connectivity, CSL commissioned Research Without Barriers (RWB) to question 301 IT managers, IT directors, chief information officers (CIOs) and chief technology officers (CTOs) in retail companies with over ten employees.

The results highlight the vital role connectivity plays in today’s retail environment, with 50 per cent of respondents claiming that they could not operate without it. 

The survey found that, on average, 71 per cent of retailers are very or extremely reliant on connectivity for core functions including point of sale, stock management, general administration, shopper and/or staff analytics, tagging solutions, surveillance cameras and intruder alarms. Heating, lighting, customer feedback, in-store promotions, human resources and finance were also cited by 24 per cent of retailers as functions that are extremely reliant on connectivity. Larger retailers with more than 250 employees, however, are more likely to be reliant on connectivity for shopper and/or data analytics, while companies with fewer than 250 employees focus on connectivity for point of sale and general administration.

Worryingly, the loss of connectivity is relatively commonplace, with 72 per cent of retailers having suffered such an event. Furthermore, 44 per cent of retailers lose connectivity every month – an event that three-quarters of those questioned said had a moderate or high impact on core functions, with point of sale (86 per cent), stock management (81 per cent) and general administration (76 per cent) most affected.

For retailers, the repercussions of downtime can be significant, with 86 per cent estimating that losing connectivity for a day impacts their sales by up to 50 per cent. Despite this, more than a quarter (27 per cent) of retailers have no backup plan in the event of a loss of connectivity; a figure that rises to 32 per cent in organisations with less than 250 employees. 

Given its vital role in day-to-day operations, maintaining reliable and secure connectivity is easily within reach. CSL Router has been specifically developed to help retailers ensure ‘always on’ functionality by sending data via a 4G SIM, thereby providing an instant, encrypted internet connection independent of corporate networks at sites where wired broadband is unavailable, impractical or slow. Alternatively, with 4G as back-up it is possible to upgrade an existing broadband service to a private network to provide a reliable failover solution if and when a wired broadband infrastructure goes down.

‘The results of this study clearly highlight the importance of connectivity within the modern retail environment, both in term of business continuity and impact on sales,’ commented Simon Banks, Group Managing Director of CSL Group. 

‘Every retailer should have a contingency plan for connectivity downtime, and one of the most reliable and cost-effective ways of achieving this is via 4G based technology like our CSL Router,’ continued Banks. ‘I was particularly pleased that CIOs and CTOs in retail organisations are very responsive to the possibilities this offers, with 98 per cent expressing an interest in a 4G router that could help them maintain the reliable and secure communications that their critical business processes rely on.’

Over 40 startups from over 10 countries will be competing for the million dollar grant from the Government of Andhra Pradesh at the Vizag Fintech Festival that will be held between October 22 and 26.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh, in strategic collaboration with its challenge partners, DCF Ventures and BizofIT, have selected 40 startups globally, from Fintech, Agritech and Emergetech, for the finale of the $1 M challenge. The shortlisting of the startups was completed after the roadshow in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Twenty-four startups have won $ 10,000, two are tied with the award of $ 5,000 each. Due to the superior quality of the startups and the overwhelming response, an additional list of 14 consolation prizes have been awarded to 14 startups, who will be pitching at the Grand Finale. All the 40 startups have an opportunity to exhibit at the Vizag Fintech Festival to more than 1500 global delegates  comprising of VCs, angel investors etc.,. There are almost 40% startups who have attracted informal interest from the investors through these roadshows already  and these investors are likely to be present on the demo day.

A total of 14 startups were selected from the Fintech category, whereas 15 and 11 startups were selected from the Emergetech and Agritech categories respectively.

The startups were selected after roadshows in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Tel Aviv, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Bengaluru. An equity-free funding of first prize of $150,000 (~INR 1 crore), second prize of $100,000 (~INR 70 lakh) will be awarded to the winners. Finalists in each category will get ~INR 7 lakh each to set up their business in Vizag, Andhra Pradesh. $1Mn Challenge winners will be announced by email and on the  vizagfintechfestival.com site at 6:00 pm on October 25th. The Awards ceremony will be held at the Vizag Fintech Festival on the same day.

The finalists and winners of the challenge will also be supported by Fintech Valley Vizag in enabling them to set up operations and grow their business in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

“Across the world, we have seen unique innovations through the roadshows. The challenge proved to be a great platform to showcase expertise to enable a better socioeconomic society. Andhra Pradesh’s initiative through this challenge will boost the Indian digital transformation and also bring the best solutions from around the world to the people of India” said Mr JA Chowdary, Special Chief Secretary and IT Advisor to the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

“The entire selection process through the roadshows was enriching. We received the wholehearted support of the Andhra Pradesh Government. They made the entire process purely meritocratic, transparent and with complete autonomy to the challenge partners. The startups across fintech, emergetech and agritech were exciting, and the ones most relevant to the Indian geography will be pitching at the festival” said Ms. Lakshmi Potluri, the CEO of DCF Ventures.

ONPEX, a leading provider of multi-currency IBAN accounts, has partnered with SWIFT to offer its clients instant access to SWIFT’s global payments innovation (gpi). The collaboration enables ONPEX clients to send and receive funds more quickly and securely to anyone, anywhere with end-to-end tracking.

The collaboration between ONPEX and SWIFT allows clients to experience an unmatched level of payments visibility, while remittance data remains unaltered. With SWIFT gpi-driven payments, payment account users will be able to see what fees and FX rates are being applied during the transaction process when sending and receiving cross-border transfers.

The global transaction standard helps businesses shorten their supply cycles and reduce exposure to FX risks while improving cash forecasting and optimising liquidity. More than $100bn of payments are already being sent this way every day. Banks, corporates and market infrastructures are leading the way in making SWIFT gpi the preferred standard for all cross-border payments by the end of 2020.

“When sending a payment, our customers expect greater transparency; they want to know what happens with the transaction and when the money is received” explains Christoph Tutsch, CEO of ONPEX.

He continues: “Until now, this transparency for cross-border payments could not be offered as each bank involved in the payment process has only been able to share the information on their part of the transaction process.”

Businesses and regulated institutions working with ONPEX can now utilise SWIFT gpi to pay for international goods and services, benefitting from a real-time, end-to-end view of cross-border payments activity. Users will also receive confirmation when money reaches the recipient’s account. Nearly half of all SWIFT gpi payments are credited within 30 minutes and many take place in seconds.

Alain Raes, Chief Executive EMEA and Asia Pacific,  SWIFT added: “SWIFT gpi provides end-to-end payment tracking with its cloud-based Tracker database. This gives businesses end-to-end visibility on the status of a payment transaction from the moment it is sent until it is confirmed. We are delighted to work with ONPEX as we hope this alliance will support our aims to advance the payments ecosystem by improving its security, effectiveness, and efficiency.”

As a SWIFT gpi member, ONPEX and its customers will gain access to SWIFT gpi’s directory. Every gpi member bank is automatically listed in the directory, providing a comprehensive end-to-end path finding for gpi payments.

ONPEX will also get the chance to further advance the cross-border payments industry. As part of gpi, SWIFT has a new service level agreement (SLA) rulebook. This will give ONPEX the opportunity for enhanced business practices and smart collaborations. While working with other banks in the network, ONPEX can help pinpoint areas of improvement in the SLA.

CQG, a leading global provider of high-performance trading, market data, and technical analysis tools, announced today a new partnership with Nasdaq Fixed Income (NFI). Under the agreement, NFI will provide the web-based CQG Desktop platform to NFI customers as the official front-end for trading NFI’s U.S. Treasury Benchmark products.

CQG announced earlier this year a partnership with Nasdaq Futures Exchange (NFX), providing CQG Desktop to NFX as its front-end trading platform.

CQG Chief of Staff Alli Brennan said: “Our partners at Nasdaq were looking for a next generation front-end trading platform for their Fixed Income customers.  CQG Desktop provides easy-to-use trading tools, with added features including CQG’s best-in-class charting and data visualization.”

Nasdaq Fixed Income covers U.S. Treasury Data, with a central limit order book that matches customer orders in price/time priority to provide fair and equal access to all participants and operates a 100 percent anonymous market. In the U.S., Nasdaq provides real-time, intraday, end-of-day, historical and indicative data formats for Nasdaq Fixed Income U.S. Treasury data, and is one of the leading electronic trading platforms for cash U.S. Treasury securities including: T-Bills, T-Notes, T-Bonds and Off-the-run Swaps. 

Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, together with Google Cloud, today welcomed Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, Rt Hon Margot James MP to launch Atos' first artificial intelligence (AI) lab under the Atos and Google Cloud’s global partnership.

The Atos AI lab in London will bring together expertise in AI alongside private and public sector organisational capabilities to collaborate and unlock cross-enterprise opportunities. The new lab will be available to businesses and public sector organisations across Europe to utilise AI technologies and to define and design use cases relevant to their needs, such as for example, using connected sensors in the supply chain of an energy company to create safer and more efficient operations to using data analytics and machine learning algorithms to reduce fraud in financial services.

The Atos AI Lab will enable Atos to enrich its data analytics suite Codex Industry Solutions with Google AI and data technologies to provide customers with industry-specific solutions. It will also help build an ecosystem of highly-skilled AI workers in London and across Europe.

The Minister said: "The UK is leading the way when it comes to expertise in Artificial Intelligence, and the new Atos lab will help to develop this exciting area of technology further. Through our modern Industrial Strategy and near £1 billion Sector Deal, we’re putting AI at the forefront of our plans to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a digital business.”  

Adrian Gregory, CEO, Atos UK & Ireland said: “The opening of this first AI Lab marks a new era in enterprise transformation and opportunity. In combining the advanced capabilities of Atos and Google Cloud AI technology, organisations will have access to compelling solutions acting as a springboard to growth in an evolving, digitally focused marketplace.”

Paul Emsley-Martin, Head of SI Partnerships at Google Cloud, said: “The new AI labs from Atos will be a valuable resource for European businesses wanting to take advantage of Google Cloud AI capabilities. This is a great next step in our partnership with Atos, and we are delighted to continue working with Atos to bring Google Cloud AI, infrastructure, machine learning and collaboration tools to enterprises worldwide.”

In April of 2018, Atos and Google Cloud formed a global partnership to deliver secure hybrid cloud, machine learning, and collaboration solutions to organisations. Atos named Google Cloud its preferred public cloud provider. The Atos AI lab is opening as a component of this partnership with Google Cloud to address the digital transformation needs of enterprise customers. Additionally, Atos plans to open two additional AI labs located in Paris, France and Dallas, Texas, USA.

These initiatives are discussed in detail in the newly released Atos Digital Vision for AI opinion paper which explores how enterprises are using AI and what’s ahead for organisations and society.

Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak today announced that he has become the co-founder of EQUI Global, the venture capital tech innovator.

Steve Wozniak has joined forces with EQUI founder Doug Barrowman and EQUI co-founder Baroness Michelle Mone OBE.

Co-founder of EQUI Global Steve Wozniak

EQUI Global presents a unique opportunity to disrupt the venture capital industry - one that is considered to be extremely traditional.  

It is a technology focused venture capital fund which combines the conventional principles of investing with a blockchain ‘back end’ that allows value to be realised and then traded in the open market through the EquiToken.

As co-founder of EQUI Global Steve Wozniak will head up technology investments and help find the tech stars of tomorrow. Woz will then bring them to the table and the board of serial entrepreneurs will mentor and coach them with world class expertise and guidance.

The EQUI fund is both open-ended and liquid, allowing investors the opportunity to sell their EquiTokens on external cryptocurrency exchanges at a time of their choosing.

While being aimed at sophisticated investors, the new, powerful investment movement that’s being created allows people to become involved in a ‘non-institutional’ way. 

The key thing is that investors can buy into the Fund and then trade out through the liquidity created by the EquiToken because the token infrastructure is built using the Ethereum platform. 

It’s a potential game-changer in the venture capital industry and a model that many others are expected to follow.

Baroness Michelle Mone OBE and Steve Wozniak

Up to 80 per cent of investment by EQUI will be in technology companies with the balance of 20 per cent being in non-tech assets, such as real estate and investment collectibles such as art and vintage cars.

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of EQUI Global said, “I get ideas pitched to me every single day in fact dozens and I always say no. Since I co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs, this is about the second time in twenty years that I actually said yes, I want to be a part of this. It has to be something I really believe in and I really believe in EQUI.”

Steve Wozniak continued, “There are so many great ideas because I sit down and think, ‘what could I think of doing?’ And it’s usually based upon ‘what do we have today in our life and how could we modify it, make it a little better or radically change it?’ and I don’t come up with many answers. But then I run it at other people and almost everybody has one answer for one thing that I think ‘woah, I never would have thought of that’ so it’s out there in the technology field. Not only that, technology really enhances every other business there is. Construction businesses are totally enhanced. Even things like restaurants are totally enhanced by the technology we create. It takes people who have ideas, but not just ideas, not ideas in their head, not ideas that are spoken, not ideas just on paper, they actually do work and create things. I know that we have something very special with EQUI. I’ve since enjoyed giving my feedback to the technical side of the initiative and will very much be an actively involved proud co-founder.”                               

Steve Wozniak continued, “I am very pleased that my business partners are the respected Michelle and Doug.  They are both very determined people who have both achieved what few people can do”.

Woz went on to say, “In the case of Michelle she has succeeded well against the odds, she started her own business at just 24 and turned it into a global brand of huge stature which she sold 4 years ago. Michelle has also invested wisely in the tech space and understands the significance of blockchain technology and how it will radically change business. She has multiple business interests and is one of the UK’s most successful female entrepreneurs. Her creativity and drive is brilliant for business because she brings diversity to the table. HM The Queen of The United Kingdom has even recognised her achievements.”

Woz continues, “Doug is a highly accomplished businessman and is also a problem-solver, thanks to his highly attuned analytical skills.  An accountant by trade, he set up his own corporate finance practice in the early 90’s. By the mid 90’s he was successfully buying and investing in his own portfolio of companies. Last year Doug successfully launched the world’s first large-scale property development, available for sale in Bitcoin. I greatly admire Michelle and Doug for their huge accomplishments.”

Doug Barrowman, Lady Michelle Mone OBE and Steve Wozniak

Steve Wozniak describes what he plans on bringing to EQUI. “We are the teachers and I believe in that so strongly because, Apple was strongly mentored. The enjoyment we had, the passion, starting the company, the excitement, it’s the most exciting thing. I like to see it happen for others and just to be a part of being able to help make it happen for a lot of others out there is going to be a big deal for me. I think I have an important role and I can help a lot.”

The team has an exceptional investment track record behind them and will be able to attract the budding start-up stars of tomorrow (not just start-ups) on a growth trajectory – the new Apples and Facebooks of the world – before they become famous.

Businessman and philanthropist Doug Barrowman, founder of EQUI Global has achieved considerable success for over 30 years in the venture capital industry. Doug is absolutely delighted that Woz has decided to become the co-founder of EQUI.

Entrepreneur and Global speaker Lady Mone OBE, co-founder of EQUI said “Woz has always been my business icon and it’s a dream come true to be working with him at EQUI”.

Steve Wozniak concludes, “We’ve already got over 20 businesses that we are looking at and we haven’t even officially launched yet.  It’s going to be very exciting. Ultimately, our mission is to seek, support and fund the blockchain and tech stars of tomorrow.

For further information please visit www.equiglobal.com

• 15.10.2018 -- 09:37 am