AFTAs 2017: Best Communications Infrastructure Provider—IPC Systems

Unigy, the firm’s flagship offering, is a centralized communications tool for both the buy side and the sell side, expanding into the middle and back offices. The platform is known for its specialized telephony system and its range of capabilities for monitoring, managing and maintaining users’ trading communications infrastructure.

The range of available tools is extensive, from prioritizing incoming calls and accessing dedicated point-to-point connections to communicating via voice, text or chat across a geographically dispersed trading environment. At its core, the platform enables users to access the hoot, intercom, TV audio, speaker channel functionality from their iPads, and to communicate directly and securely from any location. 

In June 2017, IPC unveiled what it believes will be a game-changer when it launched Unigy 360, the same Unigy offering but with a cloud twist. The 360 version is a cloud-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-delivered platform, making the original product even more accessible, in an effort to expand the IPC network of participants and establish the firm as the de facto infrastructure leader for communications across the capital markets.  

Ganesh Iyer, the firm’s director of global marketing, explains that IPC launched the solution after demand from a significant proportion of market participants looking to benefit from software that would combine the functionality of the Unigy platform but with lower implementation costs and faster time to market.

He says Unigy 360 is designed to appeal to the firm’s 1 million regulated users, including portfolio managers, economists and analysts, as well as risk managers, compliance professionals, technologists, settlement personnel and operations staff.

“Users were looking for a solution that enables mobility, business continuity, low total cost of ownership, agility and rapid time-to-market, while requiring virtually no upfront investments or IT support,” Iyer says. “We created this software that provides exactly these, beyond the front-office trading positions into the middle and back office, and also addresses the communication needs of the buy-side community.”  

Iyer describes Unigy 360 as an “anytime, anywhere, any device” product that provides immediate access to counterparties, liquidity, and a range of trade lifecycle services.