Natwest Cooperation Brings Reuters, FD Closer Together

Reuters Holdings PLC is negotiating with FD Consulting Inc. to forge closer links with the Staten Island-based software house. The talks should at least result in the creation of a joint venture, if not in FD's outright acquisition by Reuters, sources say.

Recently, the companies have been working closely as FD and its U.K. distributor, FD Systems Ltd., helped Reuters wriggle out of a sticky situation at its 400-position County NatWest Triarch 2000 installation at Broadgate in London.

Industry sources in London say Reuters called on FD to help resolve implementation problems at County. All involved decline comment on either the prospective joint venture or the problems at County.

Reuters succeeded in winning the County contract last fall, pitching its Triarch 2000 system with Sun Microsystems workstations. But the project quickly ran into difficulties, sources say, because of connectivity problems between Triarch and the logical data feeds received by County.

The digital side of the Triarch system uses the proprietary Rich-Reuter Data Protocol, which apparently fails to handle certain incoming feeds properly. While no live date for the room had been set in concrete, for Reuters to resolve the problems would have taken months and substantially boosted costs, sources say.

Recognizing the problems County would face without a dealing room, Reuters jury-rigged the video switch side of the Triarch with standard Reuters terminals to bridge the gap. The Sun workstations, meanwhile, have been delivered but are lying idle. The pressure is now on Reuters to "pull something out of the bag," as one source puts it.

This Reuters is attempting to do with FD's help. Sources say FD is planning to overlay its MiPS architecture onto Triarch to allow the external feeds to be distributed to the workstations. FD also is writing the workstation software for the Sun machines.

Once operational, the system will be linked with National Westminster Bank PLC's treasury dealing system, which is currently housed at the World Money Center in London. Software for that system, comprising more than 150 positions, was developed by CAP Group, now part of the French Sema Group. The system, providing feed handling, order entry and integration with the bank's back office, will be moved across the City to the Broadgate complex. It runs on IBM System/88 machines, using dealer workstations supplied by Alphameric PLC's Bishopsgate subsidiary.

If Rich winds up acquiring FD, it will re-acquire ex-Rich marketing whiz William Cline who recently signed on as senior vice president, marketing and sales at FD.