Security futures, the class of financial derivatives that includes futures on individual stocks and narrow-based stock indices, were approved for trading by the U.S. Congress in late 2000. When trading begins later this year, OneChicago will list futures contracts on over 80 stocks and 15 narrow-based indices. Trading at OneChicago will be entirely electronic.
"We are pleased to partner with OneChicago as they lead the introduction of security futures in the U.S.," said David Spurlock, Executive for Chicago's Center for IBM e-business Innovation. "We are leveraging IBM's extensive e-business integration experience with global financial services clients to supply solutions that meet OneChicago's needs at launch and as their business expands."
William J. Rainer, OneChicago Chairman and CEO, said, "Our objective for the Web site is to provide a complete resource regarding security futures. We are committed to offering market participants educational materials and research tools for these important new products, and this site will play a key role in that effort."
The new OneChicago Web site provides traders, brokers, money managers, and other investment professionals with detailed information about OneChicago's products and security futures trading. The site also will offer state of the art analytic software for researching potential trades and access to a comprehensive database including historical prices for over 3,000 securities.
To deliver a reliable and fully scalable platform that supports OneChicago's Web offerings, IBM deployed a custom-developed technical architecture that integrates OpenSource software components powered by IBM's eServer x330 systems. IBM and OneChicago also announced related outsourcing agreements under which IBM will provide managed Web site hosting services and application management services to ensure the availability of OneChicago's Web services on a 24/7 basis.
