The progress of digitalisation requires increasing the capacity for data storage. Tieto is currently expanding Finland's largest data centre by thousands of square metres. The company wants to help its customers take advantage of the possibilities provided by the growing amount of data, as well as respond to tightening security demands.

Tieto opened a data centre in Espoo in 2011. The Data Centre was first provided with a EUR 10 million expansion in 2014. The investment budget of the current expansion project is approximately EUR 17 million. Tieto will get access to its new premises in stages during the 2017 - 2022 period.

"The amount of data is increasing exponentially. Each image taken or sent e-mail is saved to a server in a data centre. Companies are starting to use larger amounts of data for more efficient operations, for example, by introducing predictive analytics-based capabilities. As a result, the demand for local and secure data centre services is on the rise, noted Patrik Ekström, Vice President, Technology and Modernisation Services at Tieto.

Currently, more than 150 large Nordic companies and organisations use Tieto's cloud services. Tieto has several hundred data centre customers. Within the Nordic countries, Tieto has three data centres in Finland. In addition to Finland, the company has data centres in Sweden and Norway.

The growing demands of data security are being recognised
In the coming years, legislation related to the protection of privacy should be quite strict, for example, with that addition of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Tieto's data centres in Finland are particularly well able to respond to the ever-growing security requirements. Tieto's data centres are already able to offer a service environment with an elevated level of data security for the preservation of sensitive data.

"The companies and organisations are increasingly interested in where and how data is stored. The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation for all companies comes into force in May 2018. Then each operator involved with the data must be able to indicate where the end-user data is stored. In particular, it is important for our governmental agency customers that citizens' data are stored within the borders of Finland", Patrik Ekström added.

Data centres enable environmentally friendly cloud services
The safe location of the data centres, as well as the long-term development of innovative technology have enabled the rapid growth of Tieto's cloud services. In the third quarter of 2016, Tieto's cloud services increased by 29%.

"Tieto is investing in environmentally friendly energy solutions and services, such as virtualisation and cloud services, in all of its data centres. With our services, our customers modernise their applications and IT infrastructure as well as innovate and renew their business in a sustainable way", continued Patrik Ekström, Vice President of Tieto.

Virtualisation means that a single physical server may contain several virtual servers into which data centre resources can be most effectively placed. The cloud services allow customers to reserve the amount of capacity that they need for their respective demand and which can be flexibly increased or decreased.

Tieto's investment in fixed assets is expected to continue to be around 3-4% of net sales. The investments are mainly directed to the data centres.

Appendix: Pictures of Tieto's Espoo data centre and its expansion

Tieto was the first supplier in Finland to receive heightened data security certification from the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) for its data centre services: https://www.tieto.fi/uutiset/tieto-sai-ensimmaisena-tietoturvasta-suojaustason-iii-todistuksen-viestintavirastolta 

The intranet will be used by more than 160 employees; it is designed to help FBS reduce the volume of internal emails and improve staff collaboration across the business. The project was delivered in an eight-week agile development project; giving FBS a central portal for all employees to communicate quickly, access forms and documents, and share data. Trustmarque migrated FBS’ existing data to the intranet and integrated it with Microsoft Active Directory, providing a seamless and secure experience for users. SharePoint licensing was procured through Trustmarque’s Cloud-ESP, ensuring maximum return on investment and allowing FBS to easily control and manage costs.

Due to rapid growth, the number of employees at FBS grew from 90 to 160 in under three years. This expansion meant legacy communication systems and processes were inefficient; staff were sharing documents via email and spending time searching for information on a central network drive. At the same time, a growing number of employees meant the volume of email increased dramatically, putting staff productivity at risk. FBS wanted to create its intranet using SharePoint, but with a small development team, it lacked the time and resources to develop the intranet in-house. It therefore engaged Trustmarque to consult with FBS, and to develop its intranet. Trustmarque also delivered a series of workshops to FBS, in which it demonstrated the potential of SharePoint; it also worked closely with FBS to help it understand how it could benefit from the technology.

FBS purchased SharePoint licensing required via Trustmarque’s Cloud-ESP, which simplifies the purchase and management of cloud services. This enabled FBS to benefit from monthly billing, giving it the freedom to upgrade to SharePoint Plan 2 at a time convenient to the business, rather than waiting for the 12-month renewal. The intranet is used to host documents, manuals and policies that staff frequently access, and has led to a much more collaborative way of working. It is also a space for staff to coordinate the many social activities they are involved in. An initial implementation review of FBS’ employees received extremely positive feedback. FBS plan to extend the use of the intranet further in 2017, to add more collaborative workflow functionality.

“The intranet is the first thing staff see when they switch their computers on, and in just a few clicks they can be collaborating easily with their colleagues,” commented Head of Business Change, FBS, Michael Feather. “This simplicity means our employees can communicate quickly without being snowed under by email. Trustmarque understood exactly what business outcomes we wanted to achieve and delivered an intranet that met these aims; providing the necessary consultation and training on the way. By helping consolidate some of our existing legacy systems, Trustmarque has helped us ‘future-proof’ the intranet, and has also shown us the potential benefits of moving other services to the cloud in the future.”

“Office 365 offers more than just email, something that is often overlooked by many companies,” commented David Nicholson, Director at Trustmarque. “In FBS’ case, using SharePoint to power its intranet was an ideal way for the company to foster greater collaboration and simplify communication. The work we have done with FBS in delivering the intranet and meeting its objectives, is testament to Trustmarque’s end-to-end IT service capabilities and our expertise with Microsoft products and licensing. Facilitating easy collaboration and communication also leaves FBS free to concentrate on continuing to provide an excellent service to customers.” 

The move gives Tradovate clients access to VeloxPro’s unique trading tool that delivers a customizable display in the form of a dynamic, high-definition “heat map.” Bookmap xRay visualizes real-time order flow and live trade analysis information, combined with historical depth-of-market (DOM), to give traders insights into the evolution and continuously changing dynamics of the order book. By accessing Bookmap through Tradovate, Bookmap clients will, for the first time, be able to use it from their mobile devices or tablets and in a web browser, in addition to using it as a downloaded application on Windows and Mac PCs. Bookmap clients also get first-time access to unlimited commission-free futures trading through Tradovate.

The heat map records and visualizes every change in the order book by displaying it on a scale of gray shade, and the high-definition video format allows users to digest massive amounts of information according to their preferences. It is designed to give traders a clear view of how the entire limit order book and traded volume evolve over time. The brighter shades mark areas of higher liquidity. Bookmap’s charts update approximately 40 times per second, and users can zoom into the microsecond level on the heat map.

Tradovate Holdings, LLC Founder and CEO Rick Tomsic said: “Many of our clients wanted access to the innovative Bookmap xRay platform, and we have been delighted to work with VeloxPro on a rapid and smooth integration of our offerings.”

Tsachi Galanos, CEO of VeloxPro, said: “We’re excited about this relationship with Tradovate as our first partner to offer a live web-based version of Bookmap xRay, which gives traders faster and deeper insights into live market dynamics and short-term price action. We view the web as the future for our product, and we intend to keep adding new functionality and analytics to benefit our users. Bookmap is the pioneer tool to enable traders to see all depth-of-market activity via a heat map, and just as Tradovate has recognized with its advanced, cloud-based platform, the web is where most traders will be. It’s been very easy to work with both the technology and commercial teams at Tradovate, and we are thrilled that through this partnership, our product is now available on mobile and other devices without any need to download the platform.”

Tradovate President Ryan Hansen said: “We are excited to bring the Bookmap xRay product to market in Tradovate. This is the first time we have worked with a partner to embed third-party tools that will be accessible across all versions of our platform. Tradovate provides futures trading from anywhere, and now – with Bookmap xRay on Tradovate – traders can see order flow from anywhere too.”

Tradovate is the first futures brokerage firm to offer unlimited commission-free trading for a flat price, instead of the industry-standard commission structure. Its cloud-based platform powers futures trading from anywhere and any device – all included with no platform licensing, order routing or mobile app fees. 

QuantHouse provides end-to-end systematic trading solutions including ultra-low latency market data, algo trading development frameworks, proximity hosting and order routing to hedge funds, market makers, proprietary desks, brokers and sell-side firms.

"We are pleased to have agreed to sell QuantHouse to one of its original founders, Pierre Feligioni," says S&P Global Market Intelligence President, Mike Chinn. "Mr. Feligioni's extensive familiarity with QuantHouse provides the business and its employees with the best opportunity to invest in product enhancements and even more effectively serve clients while allowing S&P Global Market Intelligence to focus its resources on growth opportunities that most closely align with our vision."

"QuantHouse is an innovative next generation company that has changed how capital markets participants trade, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead QuantHouse again," says Pierre Feligioni. "While we leveraged S&P Global's reach together for several years, we collectively believe that the time is right for QuantHouse to regain focus and flexibility to exploit growing market opportunities in North America, Europe and Asia. I am very excited to work with our staff and partners to make QuantHouse the leading provider of ultra-low latency trading solutions, and I look forward to connecting with our customers around the world to present the roadmap for our core solutions and our plan to invest in new products and services."

QuantHouse has developed a strong global platform in recent years, with its expansion into new geographies such as Asia and the delivery of a series of market innovations in ultra-low latency market data and algorithmic trading. QuantHouse's talented management team will remain with the company as it enters this new phase of its growth.

The close of the transaction is anticipated by mid-January. 

James joined American Express on graduating from Kingston University with a First Class degree in Aeronautical Engineering. Over the following 15 years he held a variety of roles including: Director of Global Network Services; Director of Business Planning; and Vice President and General Manager for Amex’s UK Commercial SME Card. Subsequent to this James worked at: Citigroup, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of Partnerships, Retail Banking; at the Bank of Scotland and then at Lloyds Banking Group as Director of Banking Operations and Transformation during their integration period; and at the Co-op Bank as an interim Transformation Director.

Most recently James has been working as interim Chief Operating Officer at Aldermore Bank, overseeing the introduction of planning and efficiency tools and the bank’s IT and transformation agenda.

Regarding his appointment, James Radford said: “I am delighted to take on the role of CEO of the C&CCC. This is an exciting time to be joining, as the industry works to introduce an image-based clearing process that will bring cheques firmly into the 21st century - ensuring their future for those consumers and businesses that continue to rely on them.”  

Following the integration, unattended operators will be able to offer an enhanced experience to their customers using Apple Pay, which is transforming mobile payments with an easy, secure and private way to pay that’s fast and convenient. In turn, consumers making a purchase will be able to take advantage of exclusive offers, promotions and discounts toward future purchases at participating self-serve machines connected to USAT’s ePort Connect platform. USA Technologies plans to roll out the technology to select unattended retail locations nationwide over the coming months. USAT will be demonstrating the technology on January 5th at The Digital Money Forum at CES 2017.

Integrating the MORE. loyalty program with Apple Pay would allow operators in the unattended market to give consumers a nearly frictionless loyalty and payment experience. Rather than going through a cumbersome process to swipe a physical card or pay with cash, consumers paying with Apple Pay at participating ePort merchant locations would simply hold their iPhone or Apple Watch to the contactless reader to pay, earn and redeem loyalty points with a single motion if they are already participating in USAT’s MORE. program. If they are not yet participating in MORE., they will have the opportunity to instantly enroll and have the digital loyalty card added right to Apple Pay. The experience from start to finish is much more efficient for both operators and consumers.

“Consumers are getting more accustomed to paying with their phones, and with all of the digital noise coming at consumers 24/7, loyalty and rewards programs that easily integrate into popular payment methods like Apple Pay are a win/win,” said Maeve McKenna Duska, senior vice president of sales and marketing, USA Technologies. “By offering MORE. with Apple Pay we are giving consumers a loyalty program that seamlessly integrates with their lifestyle, rewarding them for using the one thing they always have on hand, their iPhone or Apple Watch. We expect the MORE. integration with Apple Pay will not only fuel participation in the unattended loyalty program, but also underscore the ease, security and simplicity of Apple Pay transactions for everyday purchases like those made at vending machines, laundromats, self-serve kiosks, parking and more.”

Security and privacy is at the core of Apple Pay. When a consumer uses a credit or debit card with Apple Pay, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device, nor on Apple servers. Instead, a unique Device Account Number is assigned, encrypted and securely stored in the Secure Element on the consumer’s device. Each transaction is authorized with a one-time unique dynamic security code.

In connection with the integration of the MORE. Loyalty program with Apple Pay, USAT is collaborating with Urban Airship, a mobile growth company, to bring enhanced consumer marketing solutions to the mobile wallet demo of the MORE Loyalty program, via Urban Airship Reach, a simple but powerful platform that creates virtual cards for and manages the loyalty program user experience design (UX), promotions, point balances, etc. The work USAT is doing on the Apple Pay integration also makes registration to USAT’s MORE. program easier than ever before. Any consumer that presents an iPhone or Apple Watch at a participating merchant location will receive an electronic prompt to join USAT’s MORE. program. Consumers that opt in can then add a MORE. loyalty card right to Apple Wallet and immediately begin reaping benefits every time they use Apple Pay at a participating machine, as the loyalty information will be automatically shared with the transaction.

MORE. was originally designed to provide USAT merchant customers the ability to offer custom rewards and discount offers for products purchased at its ePort-enabled locations. We believe that many unattended operations have successfully leveraged the program to drive loyalty, encourage repeat business and help our customers gain a greater understanding of consumers' purchasing preferences to better meet consumer needs. In recent years, USAT expanded its MORE. program to offer rewards to consumers who register their preferred credit card with MORE. and to companies interested in offering a payroll deduct program to their population. By integrating with Apple Pay, USAT continues to evolve the MORE. loyalty program, making it more relevant to its customers and easier for them to present their loyalty information.