Thomson Electronic Settlements Group Migrates To Network Computing On Sun; Leading Provider of Trade Settlement Systems Moving to Sun Environment

Business Wire, July 17, 1995

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 17, 1995--Sun Microsystems Computer Company (SMCC) and Thomson Electronic Settlements Group (ESG) today announced that Thomson ESG will migrate its portfolio of integrated paperless trading software onto the Sun SPARC(TM) platform, running the Solaris(TM) operating environment. In addition, Thomson ESG will use the Sun platform as a critical development and delivery platform for new products.

The move, which will be transparent to ESG clients, is part of a strategic decision by Thomson to migrate its solutions to a network computing architecture. ESG's implementation of a Sun network computing architecture reflects ESG's support for distributed functionality that is required to deliver mission-critical trading services to its international client base. ESG's systems include the ALERT electronic database for communicating up-to-date settlement instructions worldwide; OASYS, the leading electronic trade acceptance and allocation network; OASYS Global, the first worldwide electronic trade acceptance confirmation network linking investment managers and their brokers, providing services to the equity, fixed-income and foreign exchange market; and Thomson TRADELINX, the global electronic securities settlement and reconciliation service.

"ESG's migration to a Sun network computing platform underscores our ongoing commitment to open systems and high-quality technology solutions," said P. Howard Edelstein, president of Thomson ESG. "After careful consideration, we selected Sun based on its innovative products, its excellent reputation in the financial services industry, and the ability of this platform to provide our clients with cutting-edge technology for electronic trade communication and settlement." "The breadth of Thomson's products and the scalability of the Sun SPARC/Solaris platform makes us the only vendor that can offer an advanced, flexible solution for straight-through processing," said Jill Rubin, global manager for financial services at Sun. "This move will make the transition to real-time settlement much easier for our customers."

Thomson ESG provides the world's leading brokerage houses, institutional investors and custodian banks with integrated electronic trade communications products and services that reduce risk by enabling them to meet the demands of shortened settlement. These links provide on-demand electronic communication of trade details and allocations between brokers, institutions and their custodian banks, and electronic trade confirmation between brokers, institutions and their custodian banks, and electronic trade confirmation between all parties in a transaction, together with information for account settlement.

Thomson ESG is part of Boston-based Thomson Financial Services (TFS), the leading provider of financial information, research, analysis and software products to the global investment and corporate banking communities. TFS comprises more than 35 businesses serving 45,000 clients in 65 countries and employing over 3,000 people in 35 offices worldwide. TFS is part of the Thomson Corporation, a $6 billion company based in Toronto, Canada.

Sun is the number-one supplier of UNIX computers in the financial services market. Sun leads the worldwide workstation/server UNIX market in financial services, with 55 percent in trading systems (IDC), 41 percent in securities, (CI/InfoCorp) and 25 percent in banking systems (CI/InfoCorp).

Sun Microsystems Computer Company (SMCC) is a world leader in the design, manufacture and sale of network computing systems and is a division of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Recognized for quality and innovation, the company's SPARC workstations and multiprocessing servers each hold the No. 1 UNIX marketshare position. These systems are used primarily by businesses, educational institutions and governments worldwide for technical, commercial, industrial, and software development applications. Sun Microsystems Computer Company (SMCC), the world's top supplier of open network computing solutions, is an operating company of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Built on Sun's legacy of "The Network is the Computer," Sun's SPARC/Solaris(TM) workstation and server family leads the UNIX market. The company has its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. -0-

Note to Editors: Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, The Network is the Computer and Solaris, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. All SPARC trademarks, including the SCD Compliant logo, are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd. All other product or service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners. Press announcements and other information about Sun Microsystems are available on the Internet via the World Wide Web using a tool such as Netscape or NCSA Mosaic. Type http://www.sun.com at the URL prompt.