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Other providers
In addition to the seven providers profiled, a further
22 providers received at least one response but not
enough to earn a profile, and there were several re-
spondents which use their own proprietary capabili-
ties.
Among these secondary group of providers there
were several strong names that have featured in pre-
vious EMS survey profiles but earned fewer than 10
responses in this year’s edition: Eze Software, Fidessa,
Flextrade, Itiviti (including Ullink), Morgan Stanley
Passport, Portware and UBS. These firms, while not
having garnered enough responses to carry a meaning-
ful sample size, still received interesting results from
respondents.
Eze Software recorded largely average scores from
respondents, either just above or below the 5.00 mark,
with an overall average of 5.40, below the survey-wide
average. The vendor scored well among its respon-
dents for its FIX capabilities, breadth of broker algo-
rithms and direct connection to venues. Having been
acquired by SS&C in a $1.45 billion deal earlier this
year, there is improvement work to be done for Eze’s
new owners to bring the system up to the level of its
competitors.
Fidessa recorded a poor showing in this year’s sur-
vey, and although this was based on a small sample of
respondents, the firm’s users are clearly critical of its
execution capabilities. The vendor received an average
score of 4.62 and only exceeded a score of 5.00 in just
two of the 13 categories reviewed. Respondents were
very critical of Fidessa’s handling of new versions/
releases both in terms of scoring and additional com-
ments made within their submissions for the survey.
Flextrade, often one of the main providers profiled
in the EMS survey, saw a significant fall in its response
numbers this year, but was still able to record some
very healthy scores according to respondents. The
vendor scored highly in the breadth of direct connec-
tions to venues, latency and breadth of broker algo-
rithm categories, outscoring the survey averages in 11
of the 13 categories reviewed by respondents.
Itiviti completed its acquisition of Ullink in March
this year, taking ownership of an established front-of-
fice systems provider to round-out its technology
offering. The few respondents for Itiviti were not
generous with their scoring, as the firm racked up an
average of 5.00, with most of its category scores hover-
ing around that mark, although there were some lower
scores for its reliability and availability, and overall
cost of operation.
Morgan Stanley Passport received a mixed bag of
scores from its small number of respondents in this
year’s survey, with scores either very high or very low.
As such, it’s overall scores across the categories under
review evened out, with most clocking in at around
5.50. However, respondents did agree that the firm did
well in terms of its overall cost of operation, awarding
almost a perfect score (7.0), albeit from a very small
sample size.
Portware is another firm that has been profiled as
a major provider in recent years but suffered a sharp
decline in respondent numbers this year. Having been
acquired by FactSet three years ago, the vendor will
be disheartened that its small number of respondents
rated the firm under 5.00 for product development,
handling of new versions/releases, and client service
personnel. However, respondents were impressed
with Portware’s breadth of broker algorithms.
UBS recorded an average showing in this year’s
survey, with a small number of respondents handing
out an overall average score of 5.19, well below the
survey-wide average. The bank mostly recorded scores
between 5.00 and 5.50 across the categories under
review, but respondents were critical within the client
service personnel, FIX capabilities, breadth of asset
classes and product development categories.
Issue 57 // TheTradeNews.com // 77