cloud-it-services
Options
About Options (www.options-it.com):
Options is the leading provider of cloud-enabled managed services to the global capital markets. Founded in 1993, the company began life as a hedge fund technology services provider. More than a decade ago, the company made a strategic decision to become the first provider to offer cloud services to the financial sector. Today over 250 firms globally leverage the Options platform, including the leading global investment banks, hedge funds, funds of funds, proprietary trading firms, market makers, broker/dealers, private equity houses and exchanges.
For more on Options, please visit www.options-it.com, follow us on Twitter at @Options_IT and visit our LinkedIn page.
Options harnesses its platform to deliver managed service solutions:
Essential business technology from email and office applications to phones and tablets
Hosting and management of the applications that run your business, front office to back
Low latency trading, FIX connectivity, market data and computing infrastructure
Industry-leading experts in Advent Geneva, Advent APX, Advent Axys, Tradar Insight and Sungard VPM®.
Insights
With a leaner foundation of automated execution capabilities, winning broker dealers have channeled their human capital into experts that can listen, and deliver results through iterative process improvement. READ MORE +
Last week we announced that Mediolanum, the Dublin-based asset management arm of the Mediolanum Banking Group, had chosen Options as its new managed application and hosting provider. On the back of that news I wanted to explore further why a fully managed application solution makes good business sense. READ MORE +
We have been delivering financial technology as a service for over 20 years. No one understands the needs of the financial services industry better, and this is especially true when it comes to security. In our latest video, Options CAO Nick Bryant details how we manage cyber threats for client... READ MORE +
John Bryant, Options CTO, recently spoke to Hedgeweek on how the company is constantly working to stay ahead of the risks posed to the hedge fund industry by cybersecurity issues. Read the full interview below: READ MORE +
Google recently chose to use abc.xyz as its registered domain name for its new holding company, ‘Alphabet’. Apparently it did so due to the limited choice of traditional domain names, with abc.net and abc.com already off limits, with one registered by the eponymous American broadcaster, the other by a domain registrar looking to make a tidy return... READ MORE +
In enterprise IT, flagship clients can make or break a company, but landing them is often the easy part. Your sales team can close all the major accounts you want, but if you’ve got a revolving door because of substandard account management, word spreads fast. READ MORE +
The term phishing is well known in most security-conscious businesses and users have generally become more discerning of clumsily-formatted mails notifying them that the Amazon order they didn’t place is awaiting collection. What they might not question however, is a brief one-line email, seemingly from their boss or trusted colleague, asking them... READ MORE +
When I first joined Options there was no such thing as a graduate scheme and my very existence as a ‘graduate’ hire clearly puzzled many of my new colleagues. That said, following a conversation with Options COO Danny Moore, during which he asked me if I fancied six weeks away from the... READ MORE +
When Options transitions a new client to the platform from a competitor, the two most common reasons cited for changing IT providers are (i) service levels and (ii) monthly costs being unpredictable, but always much higher than expected. The former can have multiple causes; staff turnover, dated architecture and poor account management. READ MORE +
Following on from Options recent integration of JIRA, SVP Corporate Development, Ken Barnes outlines some of the tools’ key enhancements for Velocity business in 2014. READ MORE +
Nicholas Scott-Smith talks about the Varonis audit suite, which has been added to the PIPE Platform READ MORE +
Nick Scott-Smith and John Bryant talk about Microsoft Lync, an exciting addition to the Options PIPE Platform® in 2013 READ MORE +
Options has announced its newly opened Chicago office and expanded trading destinations. READ MORE +
CAO for the Americas, Nick Bryant and Network Engineer Ene Idoko talk about their experiences working at Options READ MORE +
With commentary from Chief Information Officer, Max Brown, we take a closer look into Options West London Data Centre. READ MORE +
Director of Data Centres Max Brown talks about the Options Data Centre in Park Royal, London READ MORE +
Nick Bryant and Ian Bowell discuss the measures taken by Options and their clients to mitigate the effects of Hurricane Sandy. READ MORE +
The work we do at Options touches on something very close to my heart – IT project overruns. READ MORE +
Not only is Options a truly global company, but today the majority of our customers run truly global operations. Although “HQ” may be in the City of London or New York they have staff located in key centres all around the world. They also need to facilitate working from home,... READ MORE +
Recently our CEO Nigel Kneafsey and I had the opportunity to sit down with the CFO of one of the world’s dozen largest hedge funds, who after hearing our pitch, posed a simple question: “If I can really slash my technology spend by perhaps 70% as you suggest, why isn’t... READ MORE +
It appears the dream scenario where people use one tablet/smartphone for both corporate and personal use is upon us. But what does this mean for your typical enterprise? In short, it means that many of us will have the technology we use at home within reach at work and with the... READ MORE +
Here at Options we have spent years and years developing and improving our IT procedures, none more so than those associated with change management. Options requires that every network, firewall and routing change is rigorously documented, cross checked and only then applied by a senior engineer, other than the author.... READ MORE +
The way clouds are often heralded these days you’d think they’d be anything but a source of indigestion So what’s got enterprise CTOs reaching for the Pepto? Turns out it’s the Service Level Agreements offered by the big cloud retailers. READ MORE +
When it comes to electronic trading operations, the difference between success and failure can be measured in a few microseconds. Today’s financial services firms need to be able to analyze vast amounts of stock data, run complex algorithms and execute millions of transactions per second. And they need to be... READ MORE +
Announcements
The deployment of 7130 tier switches to Options’ managed colocation platform marks the beginning of a new era of ultra-low latency access, with Layer 1 exchange access through the Arista 7130 series. READ MORE +
Options today announced its Platinum Partner status with global interconnection and data center company, Equinix. READ MORE +
Ixia TradeVision to be deployed across Options' core US data center locations to provide automated alerting across hundreds of multicast feeds READ MORE +
London ― September 19, 2019 ― Options, the leading provider of cloud-enabled managed services to the global capital markets, is proud to have been named Best Overall Technology Firm at the HFM European Hedge Fund Technology Awards 2019. READ MORE +
New York ― September 3, 2019 ― Options, the leading managed service and IT infrastructure provider to the global capital markets industry, today announced new cloud connectivity services with global interconnection and data center firm, Equinix. READ MORE +
Options has successfully deployed colocation infrastructure with multiple global exchanges as part of its aggressive 2019 global platform expansion. READ MORE +
Options has successfully deployed colocation infrastructure at the Australian exchanges as part of its aggressive 2019 global platform expansion. READ MORE +
The prestigious list ranks the UK’s highest performing private firms by international growth. READ MORE +
London – March 13th, 2019 – Options, the leading managed service and IT infrastructure provider to the global capital markets industry, today announced the appointment of former Managing Director for Pico Global, Shamir Parmar, to its management team. READ MORE +
Options, the leading private financial cloud provider for the global capital markets industry, today announced the launch of its in-house technical training academy, “Options University”. READ MORE +
The addition of the industry leading JANUS suite, to Options’ expansive list of available services will see the firm align its low latency trading platform with fully detailed real time analytics, thus bolstering the firm’s data analytics and monitoring tools. READ MORE +
The new centrally located office will see the managed services provider create more than 100 new financial technology jobs in addition to the 100 created since the launch of its first Belfast office in late 2014. Options’ office expansion follows the recent news of significant growth investment from New York-based... READ MORE +
Options has today announced the official opening of its new office in New Zealand. This new office, located in Auckland, New Zealand, will mark the expansion of the firm’s business operations in New Zealand and Australia. READ MORE +
Jun joins the firm as Managing Director for Asia where he will be responsible for overseeing the next phase of growth for the firm’s business operations in the region. READ MORE +
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Options, the leading provider of cloud-enabled managed services to the global capital markets, is proud to have been named as a leading technology provider to the hedge fund sector in four categories at the HFM European Hedge Fund Technology Awards 2018. READ MORE +
Russo joins the New York team as VP, Product Management where he will be responsible for driving new business growth and supporting the firm’s Managed Application services. READ MORE +
Options Appoints Former NYSE Technologies and Vela Trading Systems Executive To Management Team READ MORE +
The Options high performance managed colocation solution has been extended to Equinix’s Zurich (ZH4) and Milan (ML2) International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers, offering low latency connectivity to SIX exchange feeds at source and a proximity option to the Borsa Italiana exchange feeds. READ MORE +
Options offers new Managed Colocation service at Nasdaq Stockholm, enabling colocated clients to avail of low latency connectivity to the exchange’s Nordic feeds directly at source at its Vasby data center. READ MORE +
![Options In 2016: Our Year In Numbers [Infographic]](/assets/images/clients/Options_2016_Our_Year_In_Numbers-002.jpg)
From enhanced cybersecurity measures to operational growth, 2016 proved to be another year of phenomenal success for Options. Click to view our infographic: Options 2016 Year In Numbers READ MORE +
Options, the leading provider of cloud-enabled managed services to the global capital markets, has announced the successful platform migration for quantitative trading hedge fund Systematica Investments (Systematica). The project involved the extensive rollout of a fully managed infrastructure and trading platform across all of the firm’s European, Asian and North... READ MORE +
New York ― October 21, 2016 ― Options, the leading provider of cloud-enabled managed services to the global capital markets, has been named ‘Best Cloud Based Solution’ at the HFM US Hedge Fund Services Awards. The awards which took place on October 20 at Cipriani, New York, recognize and reward those hedge... READ MORE +
Back in the early 80s, the BBC Micro had only just emerged on the market and computer games were in their infancy. They were a novelty in which I had a passing interest, but it wasn’t until my late teens with the advent of the PlayStation and games like WipeOut... READ MORE +
New York ― May 10, 2016 ― Options, the leading managed service and IT infrastructure provider to the global capital markets industry, has today announced it has selected Fortinet, the premier provider of enterprise-level cybersecurity solutions, to optimize. key aspects of the firm’s email and network security, and enable enhanced cybersecurity capabilities for client firms.... READ MORE +
The financial services sector has trended steadily towards outsourced IT and managed services in the almost eight years since the financial crisis. Aggressive cost cutting and restructuring is now seen as crucial means by which to drive profits, and managed IT providers can play a critical role. READ MORE +
London / New York – April 21, 2016 – Options, the leading managed service and IT infrastructure provider to the global capital markets industry, has today announced Jon Lambert as the firm’s new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Lambert, who previously served as CFO for both TIBCO and Wombat Financial Software, brings with... READ MORE +
No firm, no matter how proactive and fearless, relishes the idea of interfering with a key system in the midst of the relentless cycles of daily workflow. But this is a bell that tolls for everyone, sooner or later, so how best to get ready? READ MORE +
Options, the leading managed service and IT infrastructure provider to the global capital markets industry, has announced it has partnered with Observable Networks, the security analytics specialist, to provide dynamic endpoint modeling for client networks. READ MORE +
Options, the leading managed service and IT infrastructure provider to the global capital markets, and GoldenSource, the innovator of enterprise data management solutions (EDM), have announced a partnership to offer a fully managed solution as a joint offering to clients seeking to improve their enterprise data management (EDM) capabilities. READ MORE +
Options Partners with TraderServe To Deliver Trading Compliance Tool AlgoGuard As A Managed Solution
Options, the leading managed service and IT infrastructure provider to the global capital markets industry, has today announced it has partnered with software and appliance vendor, TraderServe. The partnership will see Options become a strategic managed service and hosting partner for TraderServe’s fully functional, exchange emulated test environment, AlgoGuard. READ MORE +
New York – October 29, 2015 - Options, the leading managed service and IT infrastructure provider to the global capital markets industry, has today announced it has expanded its operations in New York, relocating its Midtown office to a new, larger space on Third Avenue. The move, necessary to accommodate... READ MORE +
London – September 29, 2015 - Options, the leading managed service and IT infrastructure provider to the investment management sector, has announced that Mediolanum Asset Management, the Dublin-based asset management arm of the Mediolanum Banking Group, has chosen the private financial cloud provider as its new managed application and hosting... READ MORE +
SWX, Wiener Borse and Nasdaq’s OMX have been added to the firm’s electronic trading platform. READ MORE +
London - August 13, 2015 - Options, the leading managed service and IT infrastructure provider to the global capital markets industry, has today announced the appointment of the former NYSE Technologies sales executive, Helen Viccars, to the firm’s global sales team. READ MORE +
With the growth of remote working and (almost) reliable video conferencing, travel for work is becoming less and less frequent. That said, for a company like Options, with over 200 customers across 4 continents and 5 time zones, travel is always going to play a huge role. READ MORE +
Options, the leading managed service and IT infrastructure provider to the global capital markets industry, has today announced it has opened a new central London office. The move sees the firm consolidate its two existing London offices into one larger premises in the Victoria area of central London. The 5,000 square feet office,... READ MORE +
New York – June 3, 2015 – Options, the leading managed service and IT infrastructure provider to the global capital markets industry, has today announced the acquisition of Jake Roy Pillar LLC. Jake Roy Pillar, headquartered in New York, is a technology consultancy for the financial industry and primarily hedge funds. READ MORE +
At Options, ‘delivery’ (or getting stuff done, in simpler terms) and ‘customer service’ are two of our driving passions. They resonate through every decision we make; where we invest, where we locate our offices and the people we hire. We want to be world-beaters and we are always looking for new... READ MORE +
New York ― May 27, 2015 ― Options, the leading managed service and IT infrastructure provider to the global capital markets industry, has today announced that the Minnesota-based hedge fund, Whitebox Advisors, has selected Options as its new managed IT provider. READ MORE +
London / New York – December 18, 2014 - Options, the leading managed services provider to the global capital markets industry, today named the latest addition to the firm’s global team with the appointment of former KPMG Director, Brian McKimm. READ MORE +
The managed services provider now offers co-location services in the largest FX trading facility in Asia. READ MORE +
The managed services provider now offers co-location services in all US exchange co-location venues READ MORE +
Borsa Italia and CEF Eurex Ultra are among the European markets added to the firm’s electronic trading platform READ MORE +
London / New York – August 14, 2014 – Options, the leading managed services provider to the global capital markets industry, today named the latest addition to the firm’s global team with the appointment of former NYSE Euronext executive, Stephen Morrow. READ MORE +
New York – August 12, 2014 – Options, the leading private financial cloud provider for the global capital markets industry, today announced that it has integrated Markit’s Collaboration Services networkwith its Core platform. READ MORE +
Paresh Patel (CTO Napier Park Global) discusses Options on site management of our client's recent office migration, from bare office to fully functional trading floor. READ MORE +
The upgrade will see the managed services provider enable colocation for all US equity and options markets. READ MORE +
The Velocimetrics solution has been integrated with Options’ ultra low latency product offering, Velocity. READ MORE +
Options customers will be able to access Enyx’s nxFeed ultra-low latency market data distribution system via the Options Velocity platform Paris/New York – May 27th 2014: Enyx, the leading provider of hardware-accelerated trading solutions for the financial markets, today announced their customers will now be able to access nxFeed, Enyx’s... READ MORE +
London – May 6, 2014 – Options, the leading private financial cloud provider for the global capital markets industry, today announced a significant addition to the firm’s global team with the appointment of formerNYSE Euronext executive, Richard Hughes. Mr. Hughes, who was most recently responsible for Global Business Development at NYSE Technologies, NYSE Euronext’s commercial... READ MORE +
The announcement aligns with Nasdaq’s planned Fixed Income Market move to Carteret on April 7th. READ MORE +
The upgrade will utilize the fastest fibre available and reduce round-trip latency by 36% READ MORE +
The new office is in London’s West End and will be dedicated to client support, account management and sales. READ MORE +
Quincy Data’s solution will be available to Options customers via the IaaS provider’s Velocity platform READ MORE +
The arrival of NYSE Technologies in Belfast helped create a sector that did not exist a decade ago. READ MORE +
Nigel Kneafsey founded Options in 1993 initially as a London focussed fund technology services provider. READ MORE +
Mr. Siko’s appointment was revealed at the start of the 2013 FIA Expo in Chicago Chicago READ MORE +
Options Partners with Redline Trading Solutions to Deliver Fully Managed Trading Platform for Equiti
Options, the leading private financial cloud provider for the global capital markets industry, has today announced a further expansion of their partnership with Redline Trading Solutions, Inc., a provider of low-latency market data and order execution solutions, which will see the IaaS provider offer a fully managed ticker plant for... READ MORE +
Options Deploys MobileIron to Deliver Mobile Device Management and Security, Enabling BYOD for the F
Options, the leading private financial cloud provider for the global capital markets industry, has today announced that it has deployed MobileIron, the market leader in security and management for mobile apps, documents, and devices, to the Options PIPE platform. READ MORE +
Options Deploys Microsoft Lync, Enabling Unified Communications and Collaboration for Enterprise Cli
Lync 2013 has been deployed to the Options’ Private Financial Cloud platform. READ MORE +
Options Switches to Arista Networks to Deliver the Lowest Latency Solution for European Exchange Col
Options has deployed Arista’s Ultra-Low Latency Switching Technology. READ MORE +
Options Partners with Varonis to Deliver Security, Governance, Transparency and Peace of Mind to Cli
The data governance software has been deployed to Options’ Private Financial Cloud platform. READ MORE +
Options Continues to Bolster its Connectivity with the Addition of New Venues and Feeds in both Euro
HSBC and AllianceBernstein in Europe are among the new destinations READ MORE +
Options, the market leader in infrastructure as a service (IaaS) products for the global capital markets industry, has today announced that the former NYSE Euronext executive, Tim Yockel, has been appointed as the firm’s new SVP of Global Sales. READ MORE +
New York ― March 25, 2013 ― Options, the market leader in infrastructure as a service (IaaS) products for the global capital markets industry, today announced that the Citigroup spinout, Napier Park Global Capital (“Napier Park”), has chosen the firm’s PIPE® Core and Momentum services as its fund’s technology infrastructure. READ MORE +
NEW YORK ― March 12, 2013 ― Options, the pioneering provider of the Options PIPE® Private Financial Cloud, a managed infrastructure platform for the trading and alternative investment communities, announced today it has expanded connectivity to additional global foreign exchange markets and has upgraded connectivity between the major US trading... READ MORE +
NEW YORK ― Feb. 19, 2013 ― Options, the provider of the Options PIPE® Private Financial Cloud services platform for the exchange, banking, trading and investment communities, today announced that it will open an office in Chicago next month in response to increasing demand for the company’s services in this... READ MORE +
Former Wombat and NYSE Euronext executive to lead Options’ day-to-day operations and continued global expansion READ MORE +
Options, the provider of the Options PIPE® Private Financial Cloud services platform for the exchange, banking, trading and investment communities, announced today that it has been chosen as an IT hosting provider for Advent Software, Inc (NYSE: ADVS). READ MORE +
Options, the leading private financial cloud provider for the global capital markets industry, has announced upgrades and expansions to its managed server hosting and connectivity in Carteret, New Jersey. The announcement comes ahead of this month’s eSpeed migration to the main Nasdaq data center in Carteret, which follows the stock... READ MORE +
Events
About Options (www.options-it.com):
Options is the leading provider of cloud-enabled managed services to the global capital markets. Founded in 1993, the company began life as a hedge fund technology services provider. More than a decade ago, the company made a strategic decision to become the first provider to offer cloud services to the financial sector. Today over 250 firms globally leverage the Options platform, including the leading global investment banks, hedge funds, funds of funds, proprietary trading firms, market makers, broker/dealers, private equity houses and exchanges.