AUTOMOTIVE

The Technology Awards 2003 identify leaders in the market and draw attention to the competitive edge that can be gained by groundbreaking technology and also hopefully aid in matching technology solutions and services to the needs of the banking industry. Judging several hundred entries for forty-one categories were a select panel of leading authorities in financial services technology world. Bringing their expertise to bear in order to make tough decision were: Ray Morgan, Head of I.T. for HSBC Bank in the UK, Chris Skinner, Chief Executive of Balatro Ltd and founder of Shaping Tomorrow, and Bob Fuller, information technology director at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. To help the judges in reaching their tough decision making was the advice of John W. Stone, managing partner TowerGroup International Advisory Services. Also present were Parveen Bansal, technology editor, and Geraldine Lambe, capital markets editor of The Banker magazine. Attention was focused on innovative approaches to solve real business problems. As such the panel observed a certain lack of innovation in certain categories that have as a result been eliminated from the final list. Risk Management Solution of the Year DataSynapse's GridServer(TM) software creates a self-managed grid computing infrastructure, eliminating constraints of application scalability and compute- and data-intensive bottlenecks without costly and complex architecture. Based on open standards, DataSynapse's grid computing software modernizes applications across Linux, Unix and Windows to use significantly more computing power generating unparalleled levels of application scalability, performance and reliability. The judging panel was particularly impressed with the implementation of GridServer at Wachovia Securities that proves its potential. Replacing a fixed income application on internally developed infrastructure over Windows and Unix desktops/servers, GridServer reduced application time from a 15 hour end-of-day P&L batch process to a 20-minute intraday-capable process. This efficiency in risk management enables analysts to develop more complex, sophisticated trading models and support new instruments that were not previously possible. Business ROI of the Year DataSynapse's GridServer won this award for its outstanding performance at Wachovia Securities. Wachovia is now capable of trading three times more volume and has increased modeling simulations by twenty five times. GridServer reduced fixed income application time from a 15-hour end-of-day P&L batch process to a 20-minute intraday-capable process -- distributed across more than one hundred and fifty machines -- and made it completely fault-tolerant. The solution has enabled Wachovia to enter new markets with the new gained efficiency. "Grid computing has already had a significant impact on our ability to meet business objectives," said Bridget-Anne Hampden, Wachovia CIO, corporate/investment banking. "DataSynapse's ability to enable a wide range of applications creates a compelling solution with immediately realizable benefits."