IBM And Reuters To Offer Online Retail Brokerage Solution

Market Wire, 20050229

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it is working with Reuters (NASDAQ: RTRSY), the global news, information and technology group, to offer a solution to help financial institutions provide comprehensive online retail brokerage services to their customers.

The solution will include Reuters TIBMercury Online order routing and order management application, IBM WebSphere* e-infrastructure software, an IBM pSeries eServer and integration services from IBM. It will enable financial institutions to use a common infrastructure to deploy global electronic brokerage capabilities.

Currently being tested by Reuters in Palo Alto, California, as part of the new TIBAssurance program, the combined Reuters and IBM solution is designed to provide clients with an optimized, comprehensive platform that reduces operational risks, time-to-market and deployment resources.

Reuters TIBMercury Online provides high-speed order execution, real-time market data integration, and secure direct access to financial data and exchange connectivity for trading in equities and other instruments throughout the world.

IBM's eServer pSeries UNIX-based systems gives financial institutions the power, scalability and reliability needed to support the real-time requirements and volume demands of retail brokerage applications. Customers will benefit from superior eServer technology, which offers high levels of price/performance. The world's largest banks and securities firms currently run mission-critical applications on IBM eServer systems.

"Financial institutions are interested in offering online retail brokerage as a way to increase revenues and provide one-stop service to customers," said Elaine Sullivan, general manager, IBM Global Financial Markets. "Institutions will benefit from an integrated retail solution that leverages the industry-leading financial markets technology from IBM and the financial data and securities trading expertise from Reuters."

Rob Knourek, President of Reuters Retail Solutions, said: "Reuters is pleased to expand its relationship with IBM to offer integrated information, trading and technology solutions for our global customers. This collaboration with IBM underscores our commitment to promoting openness and choice for our customers within the financial markets. Our customers now have more options for Internet software and hardware."

About IBM IBM is the world's largest information technology (IT) company and provider of IT services, as well as a preeminent technology partner to the world's financial services industry. Working directly with its financial services customers, IBM helps them become more competitive through the innovative deployment of high-impact solutions. These solutions comprise the full range of IBM capabilities including consulting, software, hardware, research and services. Additional information can be found at www.ibm.com/solutions/financialservices

*IBM, pSeries and eServer are all trademarks or registered trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and other countries. The IBM eServer brand consists of the established IBM e-business logo with the descriptive term "server" following it.

All other brand names or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.