Exclusive Online Only ContentSybase Expands to Real-Time Analytics With Aleri Purchase
February 4, 2010
Sybase’s acquisition of complex event processing firm Aleri boosts the database management firm’s appeal to securities firms needing real-time analytics to support automated trading strategies and in managing their liquidity, say financial IT analysts.
The move, confirmed Thursday after days of market talk, allows Sybase to better integrate repositories of historical data with huge flows of incoming real-time market data and analysis of complex events and conditions.
“Sybase has done well in core processing of data and managing data in near-real time ,but that isn’t good enough when it comes to analyzing millions of messages a second required in high-frequency and algorithmic trading,” says Larry Tabb, chief executive of New York research firm Tabb Group.“Sybase can now help firms solve a wider range of data challenges.”
In doing so, Sybase will strengthen its hand against competitors such as Microsoft, Oracle and IBM which have also been expanding in complex event processing, aka CEP, says Tabb. Among the three, IBM will be the strongest rival, he contends.
“Sybase expects most deals with customers to include in-memory and historical database functionality as well as CEP, but owning Aleri allows Sybase to lead with a CEP deployment,” says Matt Aslett, a senior analyst with New York IT research firm The 451 Group. “Sybase is also seeing demand for real-time analytics capabilities from its data warehousing users and there is the potential for introducing CEP as an option for its data house as a precursor to a larger real-time analytics platform.”
Sybase will also pick up a suite of liquidity management products as well as robust datafeed adapters, graphical user interface, data visualization and developer tools, says Sinan Baskan, director of business development for financial markets for Sybase.
Sybase is one of the longest standing database and data management vendors with an operational database called Adaptive Server Enterprise, a column-based analytical database called Sybase IQ, business continuity, data integration, modeling and development tools. However, Sybase lacked tools that allow user to visualize market patterns and quickly dig into what’s going on, according to analysts. Aleri also offers a liquidity management system – widely marketed to banks – which can consolidate data from various internal payment systems. The system enables a bank to model different market events will impact its readily available cash and other cash-like assets.
Sybase’s takeover of Aleri will also increase the value of the remaining independent CEP vendors such as StreamBase, EventZero and Truviso. “It helps build awareness of CEP which is moving providing a competitive advantage to becoming a competitive requirement,” says Mary Knox, research director for Gartner’s banking and investment services industry advisory practice in Hillsborough, North Carolina.
StreamBase’s president Mark Palmer says he welcomes the challenge from a larger company. “We don’t view it negatively but an indication that CEP is a growth area,” he says. StreamBase is offering customers of Aleri or Sybase’s risk analytics platform (RAP) who sign up with StreamBase by February 28 the ability to receive credit for their deals with Aleri or Sybase.
CEP software permits firms to monitor sizable streams of data in real-time and look for patterns and indicators that require action. The technology is popular in the financial services industry which uses it to make quick trading decisions and to detect risks. But Baskan also sees a role for CEP and real-time analytics technology in healthcare, telecomm and consumer-based Web sites that experience spikes in traffic, such as eBay and hotels.com.
