GFI to use CSK’s Slingshot for trading portal

Interdealer broker GFI is implementing CSK Software’s Slingshot product to stream real-time data into Web-based products, including a new trading portal. The project is part of a larger market data strategy at GFI.

The Slingshot streaming data engine, which will go live at the broker next month, will distribute GFI’s data into end-user applications using an application programme interface (API). It will also deliver data directly into GFI’s Fenics analytics applications and the upcoming GFI Portal.

GFI Portal will bring together GFI’s services, including market data, Fenics analytics and trading capabilities, into one area. The content will include energy, debt, equity, forex and commodity data. The launch of GFI Portal has still "to be announced", said Michel Everaert, global head of product marketing at GFI.

Slingshot will connect to GFI’s Talarian-based internal messaging bus, which distributes prices from GFI’s trading screens and brokerage desks.

Russ Lewis, executive vice-president and chief information officer at GFI, said he liked Slingshot for its functionality, reduced development risk and competitive price. "Slingshot’s straightforward programming API allows both our own and clients’ applications to tap into GFI market data without substantial development effort," he said.

A source told RiskNews' sister publication Inside Market Data the broker also considered Caplin’s Real Time Text Protocol (RTTP) and Thomson Financial’s The Press middleware technology to distribute the data over the Web. GFI declined to comment.

The deal is a major one for Frankfurt-based CSK Software. In the past year, it has won a number of significant deals in Japan, with some of its biggest installations to date, said Johannes Untiedt, chief executive of CSK Software. Customers in Japan include Orix Securities, Matsui Securities, Nikko, Cosmo Securities and Kobe Securities.