BT says Scotia Capital will deploy its latest voice trading systems across its 250-position trading floor in Toronto and an additional 100 trading positions at its remote Business Continuity Planning (BCP) centre located outside the city.
BT claims the new system is unique in its use of Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology to connect the two sites, and will provide cost effective distributed operations, because it facilitates the simultaneous operation of the distributed sites with one coherent system. “This will give Scotia Capital greater flexibility when making operational changes and removes the need to duplicate system administration, as the sites will be linked in real-time,” says a BT spokesman. “But the actual benefit is the built-in BCP resilience that the interconnected trading system provides. This is vital for Scotia Capital’s business.”
“Due to new regulations and recent events – including the SARS outbreak which hit Toronto in 2003 – affordable business continuity planning now needs to be part of every day operations for financial organisations,” says C. Steven Crosby, BT executive vice president & general manager, Americas. “Downtime on the trading floor is simply not an option. A trader’s ability to make deals relies on strong voice trading technology, maximum reliability, remote access and effective business continuity planning. We play a crucial role in ensuring the quality of these services for our customers – and in helping them realise the benefits of the virtual trading organisation.”
Joe Mueller, general manager, Cygnal Technologies, the Systems Integrator and Services Provider for BT, adds: “Deploying BT’s Campus ITS platform in conjunction with the latest DWDM technology and BT’s ITS Management Suite will enable Scotia Capital to handle all system administration and configuration changes centrally – eliminating the need for costly duplicated maintenance services. This capability will provide one logical management environment for the two physically separated Campus nodes ensuring the synchronisation of both systems. Additional benefits include improved efficiency, and significant cost savings in running and supporting the remote BCP site.”
Keith Hill, senior manager, Trading Technologies, Scotia Capital, says the decision to adopt BT’s Campus ITS and latest voice trading technology was driven by the need to avoid disruption and a strong commitment to business continuity planning. “Working with BT as our global partner we are now at the leading edge of BCP and voice trading with reduced operational costs,” he says. “We also have the ability to easily scale our voice trading operations here in Toronto and at other locations around the world.”
In total, BT is providing 350 ITS pV405Hi turrets and ITS Release 15 operating and administrative software to create a consistent and seamless collaborative trading environment across both the main Toronto trading floor and the BCP site. The turrets will be integrated with ITS speakers and voice recording systems from NICE and Zenitel back-office intercoms. Scotia Capital is also deploying 50 ITS Anywhere web-browser based turrets for use by traders who are working from home or any other remote location with internet access. Full voice recording facilities will be available for compliance purposes. Remote monitoring of the central facility will give Scotia Capital the added benefit of reducing downtime caused by travel problems or other incidents – further extending its BCP flexibility.
BT is also implementing ITS Myriad, its computer telephony integration system, for users across the Scotia Capital trading floor. ITS Myriad can help traders and sales people improve customer service by linking relevant customer details, trade history and portfolio information to both outbound and inbound calls. The whole installation is expected to be completed by the end of the summer 2004.