Trading Long on WAVE

The Challenge

Schneider Trading began with a few trading associates in London's Leadenhall Market. Many good trades later, their business has grown to include other sites in London, Germany, France, Spain, and Canada, with more locations in the pipeline. Not surprisingly, Schneider outgrew their intercom system.

In trading organizations, urgent information must be shared immediately throughout the enterprise. Every moment counts, and delays could result in loss of revenue and dissatisfied customers. Therefore, it was critical that Schneider's intercom system be both reliable and scalable to handle their growing number of employees and locations.

Schneider's intercom system was reaching capacity and could no longer fully serve their main London office, let alone expand to include traders in their remote offices. Schneider considered adding additional intercom hardware to their existing system, but this turned out to be cost prohibitive and inflexible. Their offices were connected with only a data network and, to expand, their legacy intercom system would require expensive voice lines. Schneider charted the fundamentals, and decided it was time for a trade.

The Solution

Schneider Trading turned to Key Communications Systems Ltd for the solution to their business challenge. Key, a certified Twisted Pair Solutions partner specializing in bank and broker communications, proposed a WAVETM system that would give Schneider a cost-effective solution that could scale as their business grew. The WAVE software could work over their existing data network without the need to add expensive dedicated voice lines.

Schneider liked what they heard, and Key quickly installed a WAVE system connecting the existing legacy intercom in Schneider's London office with a new WAVE-based system in their Frankfurt office.

Solution Features

  • Quick implementation. Schneider's system took only two days to install and deploy, and WAVE connected seamlessly with their existing legacy intercom system.
  • Economical. The WAVE system utilized existing data lines between the London and Frankfurt offices. Schneider did not need to add expensive voice lines between the two sites. And WAVE's minimal hardware requirements meant it was able to run on Schneider's existing hardware.
  • No service interruptions. The pros at Key Communications were able to get the WAVE system up and running quickly for Schneider without interrupting their critical trading hours.

The Feedback

"WAVE works well for our wide-area inter-broker communications and will easily integrate with our new VoIP solution, allowing us to communicate more efficiently and cost-effectively with all our offices throughout the world. Once set up you have the added benefit of easy administration and the ability to quickly add additional locations — WAVE is certainly an important asset in our communication strategy," said Andoni Papaleontiou, head of support, Schneider Trading.

"WAVE provides a cost-effective solution that can be scaled to meet the varied needs of our customers. WAVE is extremely flexible and easy to implement compared to traditional hardware Hoot 'n Holler / conferencing systems, which often have long lead times and can take weeks to install. WAVE is a valuable addition to our product portfolio," added Ray Auston, technical implementation engineer, Key Communications Systems Ltd.

The Future

Schneider Trading was delighted with the results. The installation and deployment was quick and professional. The London and Frankfurt nodes each required only a single dedicated PC to run the WAVE server software. Schneider is considering extending the service to additional PCs and Cisco IP Phone users on the trading floor.

About the Schneider Group

The Schneider Group was founded in 1998 to facilitate electronic market screen-based trading for professional traders and corporate clients. Schneider has grown steadily from its initial base of a few trading associates in London to become a global trading facilitation company serving more than 200 clients around the world. Schneider's global headquarters and its main trading arcades are situated in Leadenhall Market in the heart of the City of London. Visit Schneider on the web at www.schneidertrading.com.

About Key Communications Systems

Key Communications Systems Ltd is known globally as "The Speaker Company" for their leadership in the manufacture and distribution of audio communications products for bank and broker dealer rooms. Key's high-quality products are meeting the demands of traders in 30 countries worldwide.

Key Communications Systems Ltd is a certified Twisted Pair Solutions partner. Visit Key on the web at www.keycoms.co.uk.

About Twisted Pair Solutions

Twisted Pair designs and develops world-class software that manages real-time, secure, group communications over the IP network, linking in people and devices. The WAVE software application suite serves an unlimited variety of devices including radios, personal computers, cell phones, and IP phones and allows previously incompatible systems to work together seamlessly. In addition, Twisted Pair's management server capabilities enable robust device and user management over the IP backbone.


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