New York-based Xyris Software has launched the DataPump, a product that can be used to
replace Reuters’ Personal Data Dictionary (PDD) – the software that brings
real-time Reuters data from the Triarch digital data distribution system to Microsoft
Excel spreadsheets. The DataPump software has turned up on the trading floors of Merrill
Lynch in London and Bear Stearns in New York, supplanting PDD.
The DataPump is a gateway that allows traders to bring large amounts of real-time data
into their spreadsheets without affecting network stability, and a number of users say
that the software brings Reuters data to Excel spreadsheets faster than PDD does. Reuters
declines to comment. "Basically, [DataPump] allows users to make a real-time data
terminal out of their Excel spreadsheet in a more robust way than before," according
to Maurice McGinley, the president of Xyris...Currently, the software only works with
Reuters' Triarch digital distribution system, although Xyris plans to make it compatible
with a number of distribution platforms. "It channels data from Triarch, and puts it
into Excel," says McGinley. He says that Xyris programmed the software in such a way
that an Excel spreadsheet can receive more data than it can with PDD. ...Xyris is offering
site and global discounts based on volume. Trial copies of DataPump can be downloaded from
the company's Web site at www.xyris.com.
Users Comment…
A source at Merrill Lynch in London says, "We have been using it instead of
Reuters Personal Data Dictionary for all our Excel spreadsheets; we have our spreadsheet
linked to a Reuters price feed, and the DataPump takes data off of the Triarch and onto
the spreadsheet in a significantly more rbust way than the Reuters product." The
source, a trader, says that DataPump "regulates the flow of data between the PC and
the distribution system." The source goes on to say that when the Xyris software
experiences a failure it does not affect the rest of a PC’s applications, whereas
"when PDD went down, it locked up the whole machine."
Merrill is running DataPump in a PC environment, using Windows NT. "Our portfolio
trading desk started using it in October, as a beta-test version," says the source,
who also says, "We did not evaluate anything else."
A user at Bear Stearns’ New York equities desk says, "We replaced PDD with
[DataPump] because it is a lot faster, and you can load a lot more RICs [Reuters
Information Codes] into an Excel spreadsheet using DataPump than using PDD." The user
adds that the software is "more stable, because it is 32-bit, whereas PDD is
16-bit." He adds that it is faster to install than is PDD, and that Bear Stearns beta
tested the product since last autumn, and just recently upgraded to the launch version.
Xyris’ McGinley says that there are two components to the product. "The first
part is middleware that channels the data from Triarch, and puts it into Dynamic Data
Exchange, which is the protocol that Excel uses. We have also built an add-in called the
Excel Field Injector, that is integrated with the DataPump and allows people to build
quote screens very easily, in Excel, using real-time data." The Excel Field Injector
creates a separate field for different measurements of an instrument – such as
bid/ask, last quote and volume – and shows live updates on the spreadsheet.
McGinley says the DataPump talks to the sink distributor – which is the software
that controls the data that is sent out t a user’s desktop application – on
several channels at once. "With an increased number of channels that are open, it
increases the amount of information that can get through." And, if a user has more
than one data feed running over Triarch, the user can configure DataPump first to look for
a specific bit of data on a primary datafeed, and then to look on a secondary datafeed if
the data is not there, he says.
Finally, the software allows users to take a snapshot of data, and then drag and drop
that data into their spreadsheet, where it will update in real time.
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