Diversified Multi-Location Broker Dealer

Customer Profile

Headquarters
New York City
Founded 2001
150 Staff

Branch Offices
Chicago
Greenwich
London
Los Angeles
San Francisco

Remote Users
Austin
Boston
Charlotte
Miami
West Palm Beach

Clients
Corporations
Financial Institutions
Hedge Funds

Activities
Investment Banking
Private Placements
Research & Analytics
Institutional Sales &Trading
Structured Products

System Configuration
55 IP Turrets
110 IP Traderphones
40 Hoot n Holler Stations
10 x T1 (PRI/ARD)
Resilient, Clustered System

Systems/Applications
Mitel Communications Director
Mitel Meet-Me Conference
Mitel Border Gateway
Mitel Unified Communicator
WAVE Hoot n Holler

Consultant

Saxon Technologies (www.saxontech.net)is a full-service communications technologies consulting firm based in New York City. Specializing in small to medium-sized businesses, Saxon provides solutions for telecommunications and networking needs.

The Customer

This mid-size broker dealer made a decision to diversify into new lines of business by hiring teams of trading professionals from tier one firms. The expansion plans called for hiring more than 200 new staff and opening or expanding offices in more than ten cities.

Project Description

The initial need was to quickly deploy a trading turret system and associated ring down circuits that could accommodate 20 incoming traders who were accustomed to traditional turret systems from suppliers like IPC and leveraging the existing Nortel CS1000 PBX that was only recently installed.

It became apparent that because of the need for rapid turnaround, a small equipment room, the expected growth and the understanding the system must accommodate traders in New York as well as other offices that a true IP platform was required.

Further, once the new hires arrived a need was identified for a hoot n holler solution that enabled users to monitor audio feeds such as cable news and dynamic communication among traders in various lines of business who were in different cities. Further requirements developed for traders to be able to travel to other offices and log-in to their turrets while there.

As the office expanded the limited interoperability between the different turret and PBX platforms made the business leaders decide to eliminate the existing Nortel PBX in favor of standardizing on the new IP platform; creating a single, virtual voice platform for all users across the company with access to an array of IP productivity applications like teleworking, remote users, dynamic routing of calls to mobile devices and meet-me conferencing.

Summary

For the evaluation, Saxon Technologies identified five potential turret vendors (BT, IPC, Orange, Speakerbus, and Wesley Clover Solutions [WCS]). Given the short time frame to make a decision and get the system deployed, the initial goal was to narrow the list down to two finalists for the client to consider.

We had to make sure the two options we presented were the absolute best fit for the client’s current and future needs. To narrow the list we developed four criteria:
  Vendor ability to accommodate a fast track install
  Vendor platform capabilities (features, ease of expansion for multiple locations, look & feel)
  Vendor’s track record for mid-size clients
  Cost

The two vendors that stood out: IPC and WCS. Both presented onsite demos to the client, and both came off very well. We made a firm recommendation, however, that the client go with WCS. We felt that IPC had major weaknesses addressing items 1, 3 an 4.

Saxon’s client was rapidly hiring many demanding traders in multiple offices across the country.
We needed a platform that could offer all the tools the traders and office staff required in a single voice system.

In addition it had to allow for fast, flexible and efficient deployment. With their system, trading floor experience and broad geographic footprint for installation and support, WCS was clearly the best fit.

By selecting an IP platform from a single vendor that combines trading turret and enterprise voice functionality in a single, converged system that leverages the existing LAN/WAN/IT infrastructure the customer drastically reduced system acquisition and lifecycle costs as well as operational overhead, complexity and costs associated with installing, integrating and managing two systems in every location. When all costs are considered, the WCS model can mean savings of 50-90% over a two-system approach.

Network Diagram