IPC Unveils Service to Manage Voice Recording Platforms

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Feb. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- In the wake of increasingly tight regulations, capital markets firms are being confronted with new operational challenges and risks every day. Regulators have imposed voice recording requirements that require a holistic approach to the management of the voice recording platform by teams of people with experience managing these systems in a regulated environment. To help capital markets firms address new regulatory mandates and reduce their operational risk, IPC Systems, Inc., a leading provider of trading communications solutions to the world's top financial services firms today announced the debut of their voice recording management (VRM) service. Available through IPC Enhanced Services, the offering further deepens IPC's relationship with its roster of leading financial services firms.

VRM was developed as a response to customer demand for specialized services to support their voice recording compliance efforts, reduce operational risks of managing the system and improve flexibility. More and more complex regulations such as Dodd-Frank and MiFID are generating a substantial increase in the amount of attention required for voice recording, including administration, archival, and retrieval of recorded calls.

A part of the IPC Enhanced Services solution set, VRM will provide:

• Voice recording assessment including confirmation of call recording and archival over a 90- day period along with testing of the system's integrity
• Daily health checks verifying the platform is operational and recording all calls the customer designates
• Patch management and implementation to keep the platform current diminishing risk of disruption of trading
• Lab testing of new products and software to certify they function as intended when deployed

"Despite the growth of automated trading, voice based communication remains a key element of today's trading landscape," said Dushyant Shahrawat, Senior Research Director, CEB TowerGroup. "But what's become critical is to better manage, optimize and control voice communication, compared to five years ago. Major drivers are cost considerations, competitive factors, and the incredible pressure of new regulations that require firms to monitor, audit and archive voice based traffic".

"Capital markets firms face the challenge of complying with multiple, evolving global regulations," said Paul DiBlasi, IPC's Director of Product Management. "Being able to continuously capture and archive required calls as well as retrieve complete records for compliance and regulators is both an art and a science. IPC's experience supporting hundreds of banks and brokerages has bred a high level of voice recording expertise throughout the organization.  This experience is combined with our ITIL-based processes to deliver an unrivaled service that helps firms reduce their operational risk, manage costs, and most importantly, comply with complex regulations".

IPC Enhanced Services offerings are dedicated to providing managed services solutions with a flexible service model to meet the specific needs of individual customers and manage the trading communications infrastructure of financial institutions. IPC Enhanced Services works with firms to develop the solutions that meet their individual requirements and provides the right combination of skilled resources, standard processes and systems to provide consistent, reliable service.

About IPC
IPC offers high- and low-touch trading communications solutions to the global financial trading community including the top investment banks, hedge funds and investment managers in established and emerging markets. With a 100-percent focus on this sector and 40 years of expertise and an unrivaled record of innovation, IPC provides customers with unified solutions that support collaborative voice trading and real-time electronic trading and market data connectivity.  IPC's offerings include the first unified communications/application platform, award-winning hard and soft turrets, electronic connectivity services including enhanced voice services, business continuity solutions, and follow-the-sun service and support. IPC's global reach extends to nearly 60 countries – including a financial extranet of 4,000 on-net locations in over 700 cities and more than 115,000 turrets deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions. For more information, visit www.ipc.com.

SOURCE IPC Systems, Inc.