VWD To Add To Web Site Using Slingshot

FRANKFURT--German newswire VWD (Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste) is planning to expand on the real-time pricing coverage available through its Web site. The company is using CSK Software's Slingshot, a push technology mechanism that publishes real-time prices over the Internet.

VWD is one of several information providers taking advantage of the Internet as a delivery vehicle in general and Slingshot as a distribution mechanism in particular. The company plans to use the Internet to augment its existing distribution architecture in an attempt to broaden its client base to the individual investor market.

VWD's Web site is aimed at servicing the German individual investor. Currently, there is no charge to the user for access to the site. However, VWD derives fees from the contributing banks. It is also generating revenue from advertising on the site and by private labeling the pages for other sites.

The Web site, located at: http://www.vwd.de, displays economic news headlines, as well as delayed pricing for some German equities, commodities and currencies. Since the beginning of this year, VWD has been testing delivery of data in real time, by using Slingshot to publish covered warrant prices on its options page.

These prices are contributed by major banks and brokers, including SBC Warburg Dillon Read, Westdeutsche Landesbank and Trinkaus & Burkhardt. This list of contributors is expanding; the company plans to go live with prices from Sal. Oppenheim later this month.

This service can be viewed with standard browsers. At VWD, the Slingshot software is running on Windows NT-based PCs. A Java-based solution, that will enable it to run on other platforms, is currently under development.

Based on the success of this page VWD is talking with CSK to make further use of Slingshot and its development toolkit. It wants to add more real-time pricing, as well as news and calculations to the site. It also plans to integrate these functions with a portfolio management system specifically aimed at the individual investor, with the project scheduled for completion in 1998.

VWD opted for Slingshot because it optimizes delivery of real-time data by publishing only the information that has been updated. Alison Dillon, responsible for marketing communications for Slingshot at CSK Software, says that using Slingshot allows delivery of data to the Web site in a timely manner. It increases the speed of delivery and conserves bandwidth because it sends only the element that has been changed, and not the whole message.

VWD is the principal business and economic news agency in Germany. It also delivers market data over a proprietary network to its own terminals, using distribution technology based on the former FD Consulting's TIPS ticker plant software. VWD once had marketing rights to the former Telerate's information services in Germany; Dow Jones still maintains a minority interest in the company.

Other users of Slingshot include Exco, a derivatives broker, Finacor, a European money broker, Startel, a finish data provider (IMD, November 10), and Ulster Bank.