Arcontech Users and Data Vendors join the Data Community debate

London, November 2004: A presentation given at the Arcontech user group meeting last Thursday sparked some interesting discussion. A high profile user put forward a well argued case showing the three-way benefits of the Arcontech hosted service: lower running costs and more reliable services for the contributor; lower collection, comms and maintenance costs for the Vendor; and increased revenue for the service provider. Major benefits for business continuity planning, relocation and improved time-to-market were also identified.

Representatives from Reuters, Telerate and Comstock joined the debate, as well as several contributors. A number of counter arguments were put forward, not least worries that the client/vendor relationship could be diminished. However, there was ultimate agreement that the idea was sound and that with suitable assurances over service reliability, latency, availability and security there could be all-round benefit. The key challenges were seen as gaining critical mass and changing Vendor attitudes.

Andrew Miller, Managing Director of Arcontech said: "I see this as a clear win-win-win scenario. Neither Vendor nor client has anything to lose from this approach except direct cost and overheads. We are a technology company and will not interfere with any client/Vendor relationship - we merely facilitate a better technical implementation."

The community concept is built entirely on Arcontech's CityVision StarNet real-time products and hosted in resilient centres with guaranteed up time. StarNet technology allows controlled interaction between multiple domains and is highly scaleable. Its built in interfaces and multiple platform APIs mean that contributions from most sites can be implemented in short timescales with minimal effort.