MANAGEMENT BRIEFS

Sungard and Advent Software have announced an alliance that will offer turnkey straight through processing services to Advent clients, who will be able to route equity orders through Advent's Moxy FIX service to the Sungard Direct service via the Sungard Transaction network. This alliance will allow Sungard to offer STP services to Ad vent's 5,800 investment management clients, who would effectively join the myriad banks, money managers, 401K participants, insurance companies and brokers that currently exploit e-processing on the Sungard Transaction Network.

OppenheimerFunds, Inc. has announced the launch of its second-generation Web site, oppenheimerfunds.com. Among enhancements to the site is a feature that prompts users to identify themselves as either investors or investment advisors, whereupon they are then directed down a particular path for content reflecting the information and services of each group. The site also offers state of the art account querying capabilities with multiple options for sorting and organizing client information. Accounts now may be sorted by tax ID number, client name, fund name, account balance or account type. For investors not currently working with a financial advisor, there is also an online referral service that will guide investors to an appropriate advisor in their area. A search engine has been added to ensure that visitors find the information for which they are looking. Existing services such as continuous access to account balances, fund information and online transactions will be retained.

Tullett & Tokyo Liberty has announced several significant upgrades to the interface and functionality of LibertyDirect, its e-commerce system. Major changes include a new optional interface with one-window access to all system data and functionality, eliminating the "pop-up" window architecture of the original interface and permitting user access to LibertyDirect over the Internet. For those who prefer broad data resources and advanced customization, the original interface is still available with several new features. Company officials cite customer feedback and suggestions as the chief impetus for the upgrades.

OM Technology has announced the successful completion of a benchmarking exercise of its OneWorld Retail Order Management system. The exercise, conducted using an Oracle 8I database on top of two Sun Enterprise 4500 servers running Solaris 2.7, established a new record for trade order processing, able to process one million orders and 500,000 trades per day. Along with speed of execution, the system can be implemented quickly and at a competitive price.