Earlier this month, a hacker reportedly exploited a vulnerability in an Internet-based virtualization software platform that took down more than 100,000 Web sites and other applications. “That was an intrusion that was cloud-specific–it went through a virtualized vulnerability,” said Jim Reavis, founder of the Cloud Security Alliance, an industry group representing risk managers at financial […]
Is It Safe In The Clouds? Read More »
The promise of cloud computing is that a company can easily scale applications up or down, or move them from internal to external locations, to match demand, optimize performance, or lower costs. In practice, however, users may find themselves trapped in a relationship with a particular cloud vendor, unable to move applications to internal servers
How Not To Get Stuck In The Clouds Read More »
As packets of information travel from, say, New York to Tokyo and London, a company can lose money because the data reaches its offices at different times. That, say GigaSpaces Technologies and Solace Systems, is the problem they are seeking to address with jointly developed messaging technology. The product, which is designed to speed up […]
GigaSpaces, Solace Team to Reduce Long-Distance Latency Read More »
Technology providers that cater to buy-side firms are knocking on doors in an industry that has seen widespread losses and sharp reductions in assets under management, as well as mergers, bankruptcies and outright frauds. According to Hedge Fund Research president Kenneth Heinz, 2008 was the worst year on record, with losses averaging 18.3 percent. Research
Where to Spend in a Time of Crisis Read More »
Technology providers that cater to buy-side firms are knocking on doors in an industry that has seen widespread losses and sharp reductions in assets under management, as well as mergers, bankruptcies and outright frauds. According to Hedge Fund Research president Kenneth Heinz, 2008 was the worst year on record, with losses averaging 18.3 percent. Research […]
Where to Spend in a Time of Crisis Read More »
Even before the credit crisis hit, adoption of Microsoft Corp.’s oft-criticized Windows Vista operating system was slow on Wall Street. And with IT budgets tightening across the financial services industry, many firms are not rushing to make the switch. For many it is not just about the money–there are concerns about Vista’s performance when it […]
Wall Street Slow to Warm to Windows Vista Read More »
The promise of service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a world where everything interoperates seamlessly, pieces of applications are reused endlessly and development of new systems is quick, cheap and easy. But despite some high-profile deployments and the spread of Web services, when it comes to financial firms doing serious business with each other, SOA is being
Standards Are Standing in Way of External SOA Read More »
New channels of electronic communication have been a boon to many industries, opening up sales and marketing opportunities, helping improve customer service and speeding up innovation and collaboration. For Wall Street, however, the benefits of technology such as Twitter have to be weighed against the compliance pains. Twitter, launched by San Francisco-based Obvious in late
Are Firms Ready for Twitter? Read More »
Suffering from a lack of liquidity and poor securities processing, Ukraine is hoping that Nasdaq OMX Group can provide some relief and bring the country’s markets more international attention. Nasdaq announced earlier this month that it had signed letters of intent with the National Bank of Ukraine and Ukrainian Interbank Currency Exchange (UICE) to help
Nasdaq Lends Ukrainian Market Helping Hand Read More »
Virtualization, in one form or another, has been around almost as long as computers. When the term arose in the 1960s, it referred to the partitioning of mainframe computers. But virtualization soon became a way to let people stop worrying about the inner workings of their hardware. In the earliest days, to put something in
Wall Street Expanding Virtual Horizons Read More »
Salesforce.com reached a milestone last fall: 1 million people using the online software company to host their customer relationship management systems and other key business processes. Those users were at more than 1,600 financial services firms including ABN Amro, SunTrust Banks, Daiwa Securities and Bear Stearns–Merrill Lynch & Co. alone accounted for 25,000. That amounts
Software as a Service as a Security Battleground Read More »
Dividing a server into multiple virtual machines has brought down firms’ purchasing costs and allowed for more efficient use of existing hardware. However, virtualization also poses security risks and challenges, including managing a more complex network, additional layers of technology, potential data leaks as multiple virtual machines share common communication lines, and the threat of
Server Virtualization: Powerful Tool, Extra Exposure Read More »
Firms answer regulatory, investor demands with added controls and third-party systems At the heart of Societe Generale’s recent EUR4.82 billion ($7.01 billion) in losses from unauthorized trades is the fact that the accused trader–Jerome Kerviel–was able to use his knowledge of the system to get around the checks and balances. Kerviel, an equities trader, started
Pre-trade Compliance: Better, Cheaper, Faster Read More »
Leading-edge collaborative tools and interactive sites pose monitoring burden As the Web 2.0 movement makes interactive applications and social networks such as Facebook ubiquitous on employees’ desktop computers, financial firms are facing the daunting task of monitoring these so-called greynets. Instant messaging security vendor FaceTime Communications estimates that there are more than 600 greynets worldwide,
The Web 2.0 Threat Read More »
A few years ago, it would have been hard to imagine Wall Street firms turning over key customer data to an Internet start-up. But in May 2005, Salesforce.com announced a major customer win: 5,000 Merrill Lynch & Co. financial advisers would use the Web-based service to track their customers. After a one-year pilot project, Merrill
Salesforce.com: The CRM ‘Hot Ticket’ Read More »
