BT Takes Voice Trading Into the Cloud

LONDON, Feb. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- BT today announces the next phase of the roll-out of its next generation voice trading platform.  A number of large global investment banks and hedge funds are now engaged to become early adopters of BT's leading edge technology — a key element of BT's collaboration suite for financial markets.  Customer trials will commence in April this year and live deployments are then expected to begin on branch floors from July.

BT's next generation voice trading platform breaks down the barriers of physical and proprietary hardware switches by moving to an open, software-based component model, which can be distributed across a trading firm or into the cloud.  This provides organizations with an enhanced level of flexibility and cost efficiency in how they deploy their trading communications.  

Built on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) technology, the next generation voice trading platform introduces a new level of agility for supporting trading operations dispersed throughout a region. The next generation architecture is highly scalable and is capable of supporting many thousands of users equipped with BT's ITS.Netrix trading turrets.  It can be rolled-out across customers' trading floors with the minimum of disruption and without the need to rip-and-replace existing technology.

Larry Tabb, Founder and CEO, Tabb Group said: "As financial services firms look to solve their cost, power and space challenges while extending their infrastructure, it will be critical for these firms to examine more software- and cloud-based voice solutions."  

Howard Boville, head of financial markets and MD trading systems, BT, said: "In the days of analogue equipment, the largest trading floors could need up to 200 racks of equipment – the equivalent of a basketball court.  Going digital then reduced this to around 20 racks, about the size of a squash court.   This move to switchless open components is the next step in the evolution of the trading communications world and can reduce the data centre space required down to just two racks, about the size of a pool table – saving space, power, and CO2 emissions.  

"Our next generation trading platform is a key component in our new suite of cloud based financial services solutions, which are all designed to drive the industry forward.  Working hand-in-hand with our customers enables BT to deliver new innovations to fit the exacting needs of the market and help our customers to thrive in an ever changing world."

Notes to editor:

Organizations deploying the platform will enjoy the following additional benefits:

• No need to physically locate switch hardware components in each satellite office, significantly reducing the requirement for local or on-site technical support.  
• The ability to quickly scale up-or-down according to their needs creating easier access to new markets and trading centers quickly with minimal capital investment.  
• Less physical equipment means less data centre floor space is required therefore less maintenance, and reduced operating costs and CO2 emissions.
• Voice circuits in remote branches no longer need to be trunked back to a central switch – saving cost and network traffic.
• It is fully compatible with BT's tried and trusted trading turret, BT ITS.Netrix, so no need for rip-and-replace.  The 68,500+ traders already using a BT trading turret in 60+ countries continue to benefit from the familiar and powerful user interface while the firm gains the benefits of the new open, networked platform.
• The new platform can also integrate with the previous generation of voice trading switch deployments, enabling controlled migration and leveraging existing investments.
• Organizations can choose to migrate to cloud services at their own pace and choose the configuration best suited to their business model – from deployment within the enterprise to a full cloud-based deployment to a hybrid model.
• Capable of supporting multiple channels of communication, the next generation platform lays the foundation to help traders interact using voice, video and messaging – securely and compliantly.
• Support for encryption and strong authentication ensures compliance with the strictest security standards set by banks and regulators.

What is SIP?  The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signalling protocol used for establishing sessions in an IP network – this could be a simple two-way telephone call or it could be a collaborative multi-media conference session and creates opportunities for a host of innovative services to become possible, such as voice-enriched e-commerce, web page click-to-dial, Instant Messaging with buddy lists, and IP Centrex services.

To view demos of this product, visit one of BT's The Future Delivered roadshows.  Next stops:

• Hong Kong – 29 March
• Singapore – 31 March

More dates and venues to be announced.

• BT's new trading communications platform is based on Session Internet Protocol (SIP) technology, which facilitates multi-channel communication such as voice, instant messaging, application sharing, video, and presence.  Instead of relying on centralised switching hardware, the new platform uses switch-less networked software components, resulting in greater flexibility, quicker deployment, and less up-front investment.
• 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 (68,500 people) use a BT turret.
• 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.

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