The was plenty of market data cloud buzz at the 2010 SIFMA Technology Conference and Exhibition with NASDAQ and Xignite right in the center. Using the XigniteOnDemand Market Data Cloud Platform, NASDAQ plans to launch Data-on-Demand in the second half of 2010 to provide easy and flexible access to large amounts of detailed historical NASDAQ Level 1 trade and quote data for all U.S.-listed securities. Tick data is increasingly in demand for back testing of algorithmic trading strategies as the securities industry pushes the limits of high frequency trading.

Randall Hopkins, NASDAQ OMX’s Senior Vice President of Global Data Products, is quoted in the press release as saying: “Today our customers spend a large amount on technology infrastructure, not the market data itself. With Data-on-Demand, we want to drastically cut data management costs by running the technology infrastructure on the cloud for our clients and delivering to them the data they need, when they need it, and how they need it.”

NASDAQ discusses it’s market data cloud initiative with Max Bowie
of Inside Market Data at the 2010 SIFMA Financial Services Technology Expo

Obtaining and collecting tick data can be onerous and time-consuming as firms are required to establish feeds and maintain large amounts of data on-hand. On-demand market data distribution gives applications a way to cherry pick the specific subset of data that the application needs with pinpoint accuracy. Instead of combing through very large data sets of historical tick data, developers will be able to program their applications to select very specific data sets and obtain them on-demand and process them instantly. Data-on-Demand will also allow clients to download large tick data subsets on a scheduled basis.

We’re proud to announce that CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, is jumping on the cloud computing bandwagon and has agreed to use the XigniteOnDemand market data cloud platform to deliver OTC data from the cloud.

Brian McElligott, Managing Director of Information Products at CME Group is quoted in the press release as saying “With the ongoing development of our multiple OTC product and service offerings, and the need to deliver this data to customers with continued market transparency, the Xignite platform will be a quick and cost-effective way to get OTC pricing and reference data to our global market participants.”

Pete Harris of the A-Team Group interviews CME Group, BG Cantor and Xignite.
The A-Team Group gave the cloud prime coverage in their recent Q2 issue,
and Pete is launching a new “Market Data Cloud” channel, so stay tuned to that.

CME Group plans to offer on-demand access to end-of-day OTC settlement, volume and open interest data to support markets available through CME ClearPort®, a set of flexible clearing services open to OTC market participants to substantially mitigate counterparty risk and provide neutral settlement prices across asset classes. CME ClearPort currently clears more than 500,000 contracts daily, including Credit Default Swaps (CDS), energy, metals, agricultural commodities and foreign currencies. The service brings together more than 10,000 global users across the world including banks, hedge funds, trading entities, Inter Dealer Brokers (IDBs), Future Commission Merchants (FCMs), and clearing firms.

It’s a rare day when stock traders on Wall Street, can hear a bell struck all the way on the West Coast. Well, it happened today, when NASDAQ’s opening and closing bells rang from the heart of the Silicon Valley. Today’s ceremonies celebrated NASDAQ’s 20-year history in the valley, and was attended by NASDAQ CEO Robert Greifeld, NASDAQ EVP Bruce Aust, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, the San Jose City Council, local business executives, national press affiliates and myself.

While I have always supported the Silicon Valley as a hub of global innovation, it was surprising to learn that there are currently 513 NASDAQ listed companies in California, with 210 of them in the Silicon Valley.  I was amazed that this little sliver of the world has an impressive $1 trillion USD in combined market capitalization. With these facts fresh in my mind, I ran back to the office to dig into our web services and learn more about these companies.

Being a 30 year resident of the valley, even I was surprised by the high number of NASDAQ listed companies within 20 minutes of my office; Adobe Systems (ADBE -0.47), Apple (AAPL +0.71), Applied Materials (AMAT +0.22), Cisco (CSCO +0.07), eBay (EBAY +0.51), Electronic Arts (ERTS +0.28), Google (GOOG +2.02), Intuit (INTU +0.01), LAM Research (LRCX +1.06), SanDisk (SNDK +0.36), Symantec (SYMC -0.01), Yahoo (YHOO -0.0608) and 200 other wonderful Silicon Valley companies.

While conducting this impromptu research, I was reminded how quick it is to obtain exactly the data sets that I needed, and how much I love the ease and simplicity of financial web services. Overall, it was a good day for local corporations, a wonderful day for NASDAQ, and a sign that the Silicon Valley will continue to be a hub of technical innovation for decades to come.

Closing Bell Gallery (by Xignite): HERE
Closing Bell Video (by NASDAQ): HERE
Stock Data Sourced From: Xignite NASDAQLastSale

It takes 5 minutes to beat cream into butter, write half of your name in Elvish, or create a homemade tattoo gun.  Or if you want to get really wild, you could spend your next 5 minutes creating a Windows application to get real-time precious metal quotes.  If that’s a little too wild for you, you could also live vicariously through us by watching a video of us doing it.  But if you’re ready to throw caution to the wind and give it a try for yourself, here’s how:

Step 1: Start a new Windows application project in Visual Studio using VB.NET as the language.  (You can use any language, but this example just happens to use VB.NET.)

Step 2: Create a web reference to http://www.xignite.com/xMetals.asmx?WSDL and call it XigniteMetals.

Step 3: On the Form1 design, drag and drop 2 text boxes, 3 labels, and a button, arranging them as shown in the picture.  Give the left-most text box a name of tbMetal and default text of XAU.  Give the right-most text box a name of tbCurrency and a default text of USD.  From left to right, the labels should be given the following names and default text values:  lIntro defaults to “Right now ”, lCosts defaults to “ costs ”,  PriceLabel defaults to “0.00.”  The button should have a default text value of “Get Quote.”

Step 4: Double-click the button to create its click event handler.  Then add the following lines of code inside the event handler:

Dim xHeader As New XigniteMetals.Header()

xHeader.Username = “MYAUTHENTICATIONKEY”

Dim XigniteMetalsWebService As New XigniteMetals.XigniteMetals()

XigniteMetalsWebService.HeaderValue = xHeader

Dim Quote As XigniteMetals.MetalQuote = _

XigniteMetalsWebService.GetRealTimeMetalQuote(_

DirectCast([Enum].Parse(GetType(XigniteMetals.MetalTypes), tbMetal.Text), XigniteMetals.MetalTypes), _

DirectCast([Enum].Parse(GetType(XigniteMetals.MetalCurrencyTypes), tbCurrency.Text), XigniteMetals.MetalCurrencyTypes))

PriceLabel.Text = Quote.Rate.ToString(“#,###.00″)

Step 5: Replace “MYAUTHENTICATIONKEY” in the second line of code with your Xignite authentication key.  Don’t have one?  Just sign up for a free trial and use your e-mail address as your initial authentication key.

Step 6: Compile and run.

Congratulations! You might make a lousy tattooed elf chef, but you’ll be the life of the party with precious metal traders.

Now that the cat’s finally out of the bag on BGCantor’s new on-demand web services, I can finally take the readers of the Xignite blog back stage for a “behind the scenes” look at the making of the biggest initiative in the on-demand financial web services world since the start of Xignite.

BGCantor On-Demand offers fixed income and derivatives data via on-demand web services using Xignite’s core platform.

What happened behind the scenes?  How did this new on-demand business get launched?  And what did it take to launch it?  Well, first and foremost, it took a great team at BGCantor Market Data.  The BGCantor team was absolutely delightful to work with.  Everyone was highly knowledgeable, very responsive, dedicated to accomplishing the mission and very excited about the whole project.  We couldn’t have asked for a better group to work with.

Together, the BGCantor/Xignite team started by designing web services to be truly application-ready, combining Xignite’s web service experience with BGCantor’s in-depth market data knowledge.  Then we coded the web services on top of the XigniteOnDemand market data distribution platform for rapid development on a robust, high-performance, highly scalable architecture.  At the same time, we also built the BGCantor On-Demand website and tightly integrated it with the web services themselves.  To help manage the new on-demand business, we also deployed an administrative portal for on-going management of customer accounts.  At the same time, on the sales and marketing front, we worked together to find just the right usage-based pricing model to drive strong revenue growth for BGCantor while also delivering exceptional value for BGCantor’s customers.  Then we collaborated on developing marketing collateral and sales tools.

As for showing you blooper videos of our behind-the-scenes footage, I’m afraid I couldn’t quite convince Legal to sign off on that. Sorry. Maybe next time.

A few years back, if you asked your IT professionals about Cloud Computing, you probably would have received a blank stare, followed up with an “I love my servers” comment. At that time, even the term “Cloud Computing” was plagued by confusion, uncertainty and a fair amount of misinformation. Early misconceptions were further reinforced by the many ‘cloud flavors’ being lumped into one term, SaaS, PaaS, utility computing, virtualized computing, managed services, resource computing, elastic computing and so on. Many concluded that Cloud Computing was more a buzzword than a definable technology.

Today, that is no longer the case, with an overwhelming consensus affirming that the winds of change are blowing in the clouds favor. The desire to move into the clouds is quickly turning into a necessity, with a wide range of internal and external forces leading the charge. Redundancy, efficiency, availability, simplicity, stability or plain & simple economics, every entity has its own unique set of reasons for moving into the clouds. With its inherent time and cost benefits, It’s no surprise that there is a growing wave of support for Cloud Computing, with some of that support coming from some unlikely places.

Recently, a once reserved Gartner highlighted the benefits of cloud computing, stating; “The technologies that CIOs are prioritizing in 2010 are technologies that can be implemented quickly and without significant upfront expense, instead of investing millions of dollars to get millions in benefits, with these technologies, up front investments are measured in thousands of dollars to get those same benefits”. In the same report, where the opinions of 1586 CIO’s were polled, it was discovered that there has been a dramatic shift in global technical priorities. Amazingly, the #1 technological priority for the past five years has all but dropped off the list, being replaced by Virtualization & Cloud Computing.

In addition to the CIO’s of the world, another area where Cloud Computing is gaining serious momentum is within the U.S. Government. It is clear that one of the world’s largest political entities is doing more than assessing the clouds viability, but rather, running down the path towards broad adoption. In a revealing interview with Information Week, Obama’s Federal CIO, Vivek Kundra stated: “The cloud computing investment in the 2010 budget reflects the administration’s desire to drive down costs, drive innovation across the federal government, [and] make sure we’re making available technologies to the workforce”.

While the executive branch of the Government is currently in the late planning to early implementation stages, other agencies within the government have already moved into the clouds. Among the front-runners are NASA’s NEBULA Cloud Computing Project, the Defense Information Systems Agencies DoD RACE Cloud, the Department of Homeland Security Cloud Strategy, and a handful of other agency-drive initiatives. One of the more exciting initiatives is the GSA’s approach to centralizing approved Cloud Computing Vendors, as well as plans for the agency to become the central clearinghouse for government backed private, public and semi-public cloud based applications and computing capabilities. To jump-start this effort, the Obama Administration, in conjunction with the GSA, launched www.APPS.gov, an all new centralized government storefront for everything cloud service related. It is apparent that cloud based technologies are becoming so prolific, even the U.S. Government is getting on-board!

While private, public and governmental initiatives are a good sign of progress in the Cloud Services segment, other sure-fire indicators include innovation and investment. In addition to the hundreds of millions invested by leading cloud service providers like Amazon, Google and others, Microsoft and HP have put their hats into the ring with a USD $250 million investment in Cloud Computing. This extended partnership is aimed at building a new cloud based ‘infrastructure-to-application’ service that will “transform the way large enterprises deliver services to their customers”, tackling both the expansion and innovation of cloud services in a single leap. According to Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Balmer; “This agreement, which spans hardware, software and services, will enable business customers to optimize performance with push-button simplicity at the lowest-possible total cost of ownership”.

Worldwide, there are countless examples of how Cloud Services are re-shaping the way we think about our computing needs, but some industries are moving slower than others towards adopting this disruptive technology. The Financial Data Industry, with its transpiring low latency arms race and troubling regulatory concerns, has all but shunned the Cloud Computing paradigm, citing a host of philosophical concerns, and boasting the perceived benefits of over-spending on data acquisition technologies.

It’s no surprise that the one Financial Data Provider that has integrated Cloud Computing technologies into its delivery model, is growing at break-neck speeds.  It’s on-demand delivery method provides professional financial market data to customers in more than 5o countries around the globe, saving serious time and money in the process. While some data vendors are holding tight to their legacy delivery methods, it’s good to know that there is at least one Financial Data Provider that can see into the clouds, and is embracing the future with open arms.

I really liked how Max Bowie characterized Xignite as “disruptive” in a piece he published in Inside Market Data earlier this week, entitled “Appetite for Disruption.” He was covering our latest release of equity options web services XigniteOptions and XigniteRealTimeOptions, but his “disruptive” moniker couldn’t be more appropriate for all of Xignite as a company.

He dubbed us as “disruptive” because our equity options services changed the economics of getting options data so much that customers like iVerit are now able to create new businesses delivering this high-volume, high-expense market data at rates affordable even to small private investors over small, affordable devices like the iPhone.

But the truth is that virtually every time we launch a new web service, we see this pattern of disruptive technology creating new opportunities to penetrate existing markets much more deeply. That’s because it’s the on-demand delivery model itself, not any particular web service, that creates the order-of-magnitude changes in economics that cause disruption and new opportunities to deepen existing markets.

So thanks to Max for giving us a rep as a high-tech company running amok causing market depth and disruption wherever we go.

With 2010 quickly approaching, we wanted to celebrate the holidays with our friends & partners in the NYC Area. Join the Xignite crew for some good food, great drinks and special holiday gifts.

Hang-out with Xignite CEO Stephane Dubois and a handful of other Xignite’rs at Stout NYC, Thursday December 17th from 5:30p to 7:30p. We will be located in the Dart Alley Area of Stout’s Cellar.

While everyone that attends will be hooked up with the latest Xignite gear (shirts, USB’s, shot glasses, etc.), the first ten people to arrive will receive a very special gift pack, worth $50 each. We look forward to enjoying great food, cold beers and a quick dart shootout with our friends & partners in NYC.

I was reminded when we launched XigniteGlobalRealTime this week of how small the world has become. There was a time when traveling from Europe to my house in California would have taken months by sea, then months by covered wagon. Now I can make the trip in a single non-stop 21-hour flight. Granted, I have to brave the kid kicking the back of my seat, screaming babies, the guy with N1H1 to my right, and the guy to my left who spends all 21 hours trying to sell me life insurance while telling me his life story. But at least I don’t have to worry about scurvy… just airline food.

The world of market data has also gotten much smaller. Not too long ago, getting intraday stock quotes from Europe’s biggest exchanges was simply out of reach for any U.S. company that didn’t have a six-figure technology budget. Now even small startup companies on a shoestring budget can get real-time Level 1 stock quotes from even the smallest European exchanges, not to mention countless other exchanges around the world. What’s next? Frequent data miles for global market data usage? (Hmmm… Not a bad idea.)

If you search the internet looking for U.S. Stock Market Data, you’ve probably found as I have, that the experience can be fairly dry and unentertaining.  You will come across countless websites offering one data set or another, are often missing the critical data points you need, or conversely deliver way too much data for your projects requirements. 

Either way, once you tally up the combined costs of data feeds, network connections, servers, databases, manpower and integration, you will find that traditional delivery methods can be downright depressing.  Time and time again, we hear this feedback from new and prospective customers, telling us that they’re tired of the same old data song and dance.

Xignite's own Farris Pine, adding some fun to the U.S. Stock Quote videos.

Luckily, weve changed that tune with the rollout of our all new U.S. Stock Quote Section.  With this full section re-design, we have put the fun back in U.S. Stock Market Data.  We’ve stacked real-time, delayed and historical data together so you can easily compare and contrast what data sets work best for you.  We offer fun new video tutorials, handy data coverage comparisons, cool interactive demos, tons of helpful sample code and a wealth of easy to use Web service operations. 

With Xignite, you’ll be a rockstar for accelerating project timelines, accounting will love you for coming in under budget, and your developers might even take you to lunch for making their jobs so much easier.  Take a look at this new section by visiting http://www.xignite.com/stock-quote/20003.html.