Multicore Ups the Ante, Now Developers Must Catch Up
Once the preserve of Cray supercomputers, financial firms are applying high-performance computing (HPC) to areas such as pre-trade risk analysis, thanks to relatively inexpensive multicore processors from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Intel Corp.
Until recently, firms haven't been able to measure risk fast enough to support trading decisions, says Neil Bartlett, CTO of Toronto-based Algorithmics, a leading risk management software vendor owned by Fimalac, which is also the parent of Fitch Ratings. "In the last year we have seen the front office wanting to measure risk in the same way as the middle office," explains Bartlett. "That is just now possible because modern hardware can do it in a cost-effective manner. Technology has reached the stage where you can do it for $100,000, which is a number the front office likes to hear."
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