[Sydney, AUSTRALIA] The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) has finalized an agreement to purchase IBM Australia software components for the development of new financial e-business solutions.
IBM’s WebSphere platform will deliver application development, transaction processing and system integration tools, while the MQSeries will replace existing middleware systems written by the ASX over the next six to twelve months.
The multi-million dollar contract will see IBM’s WebSphere software assist the ASX in establishing its new B2B e-commerce initiatives, including electronic lodgement of company announcements, and enhancing its public Web site.
IBM’s middleware product MQSeries Integrator will also be deployed in a number of ASX systems, including the new foreign market linkage system which is designed to improve international capabilities for Australian brokers through the development of reciprocal international linkages for the trading of shares in other markets.
“The ASX has purchased IBM’s WebSphere Application Server to improve the performance and reliability of Web-enabled database applications by providing state and session management capabilities,” said the ASX’s deputy managing director Angus Richards.
“We have adopted WebSphere application servers to centrally manage mission-critical Web-based applications,” he said. “They provide us with load-balancing and fault-tolerance capabilities across the enterprise and the ability to integrate diverse data and application sources into a single point of access.”
Richards said WebSphere also provides a set of common tools and services that the ASX needed. “This has advantages for prototyping as well as support and reliability,” he said.