The new Aspect service, to be called Signal G Digest™, will provide a new format for presenting company announcement information.
Designed to complement the new PDF-based ASX ComNews™ service, Signal G Digest will provide quick text summaries of the key points from market-sensitive company announcements in a timely structured fashion that is readily searchable. The service will also provide structured financial data extracts from preliminary results and other market sensitive releases from companies.
It is envisaged the Signal G Digest will be of value to a range of customers within the financial community, including brokers, investors, news services, and information resellers. The service will be available via ASX's current Signal G distribution channels, as well as through a range of innovative web-based platforms. These include Aspect's fully managed and hosted web platform, which will operate in conjunction with its well established managed service for the PDF announcements. Aspect will also provide information resellers and other users with the option of receiving Signal G Digest in XML or other structured formats. The text format of the announcements will allow for dissemination of information by a variety of methods, including email and sms alerts.
Commenting on the development of the new service, Aspect Financial Managing Director Andrew Bird said, "We believe the new Signal G Digest provides an ideal complement to the recently launched ASX ComNews service. By providing quick text summaries of the key announcements, the service will allow users to scan new announcements without having to open and read entire pdf documents. In all cases, however, the Signal G Digest will be linked to the underlying announcement so that users who wish to view the full and unedited announcement can do so with just one click."
ASX's head of Market Information, Peter van Steensel said, "ASX continues to explore ways to enhance information services to investors and promote distribution of company news to the market. Aspect Financial is an acknowledged leader in the provision of financial information to the Australian market. This arrangement has enabled the launch of an innovative new service that complements our premier company news service, ASX ComNews.
"The Signal G Digest will provide the market with a very convenient, text-based summary of market-sensitive announcements. The combined distribution capability of ASX and Aspect will enable customers to access the new service in a variety of ways delivering maximum flexibility.
Initial coverage of Signal G Digest will be every market sensitive announcement by all listed companies. Trials of the new service are beginning soon and first release of the product is expected in July 2003.
