Tech Bits appears on the web and in IN Daily every Friday. Comments are welcome at IN Editor@InvestmentNews.
By Davis D. Janowski
SightSpeed introducing nine-way video conferencing calls
SightSpeed Business, a product of SightSpeed Inc. of Berkeley, Calif., Monday will roll out simultaneous nine-way web-based video calls or text chat, up from the four-way capability that has been available.
The technology will enable advisers using the service to hold an interactive video conference call with up to eight other people over the Internet.
This is part of an upgrade to
SightSpeed Business (InvestmentNews, Oct. 22), which was launched last fall. The service will run on both Windows and Macintosh computers. A 10-user business package costs $150 a month or $1,500 for a full year.
During a recently held InvestmentNews
technology round table, increased reliance on inexpensive web-based conferencing services was cited as a way to cut travel costs and speed the process of collaboration with partners or clients, especially those not living nearby.
For more information, visit
SightSpeed online.
No joke: the widget economy is growing at a phenomenal rate
Widgets, those modular software applications that users can add to social-networking profiles, blogs and web pages to perform all sorts of functions, are proliferating at a dramatic clip, noted a report from London-based market analysis company MarketClusters, purveyor of the StrategyEye Digital Media online analysis service and platform.
During the last 12 months, StrategyEye tracked 42 venture capital or mergers and acquisition deals in the widget market, representing $206 million of investment.
“Deal trends reveal a clear indication of growth in the amount of investment over the period, reflecting mounting confidence in the sector and a maturation of market player strategies," concluded Isabella Thomas, author of the study.
Visit
StrategyEye online for more information on their platform.
Celent study finds improvement in NYSE execution quality
Average execution speeds for New York Stock Exchange-listed equities fell a stunning 92% among the least active issues between 2006 and 2008 due to gains from electronic systems, according to a study from Celent Communications Inc., a financial and technology research firm in Boston.
The report, “Execution Quality in the NYSE Market,” was based on an analysis of more than 15.9 billion orders placed in the past year, noted a press release. The study measured and ranked 176 market participants based on their execution speed and prices obtained for orders.
Overall, Bids Holdings LP of New York had the best prices among all market centers, and Liquidnet Holdings Inc., also of New York, topped the speed rankings.
Among electronic order books, The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. of New York achieved the best prices and the fastest speed, displacing Chicago-based Archipelago Holdings Inc. for the title of quickest major electronic order book in the study. Automated Trading Desk LLC of Mount Pleasant, S.C., obtained the best prices for client orders, while Knight
Capital Group Inc. of Jersey City, N.J., executed incoming orders at the fastest rate in the market maker category.
For more information, visit
Celent online.
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FRIDAY:
Tech Bits by Davis. D. Janowski
Davis D. Janowski is the technology reporter for InvestmentNews.
