Recently, UtiliPoint launched an online directory of Commodity Trading & Risk Management software vendors and service providers (www.trmdirectory.com) to accompany our existing
Directory of ETRM Vendors and Products subscription service. The idea behind the online directory is to provide a single and definitive list of providers for those seeking CTRM software or services. The Directory features quite a lot of functionality to search for vendors and services by categories or by name and provides some basic information along with a direct link to that provider's web pages.

We have and will continue to add new categories to the directory including "publications" and "conferences and tradeshows" and will populate them accordingly to make this a one stop source for information about the CTRM software space. We are also using the comments feature to post short snippets based on news announcements made by vendors too to add some additional useful information to the site.

UtiliPoint's on-going research into areas such as vendor perceptions has informed us that many prospective buyers lack up to the minute information about vendors and products. The CTRM software landscape changes very rapidly and due to the heterogeneous nature of software requirements, actually supports many more vendors than perhaps might be realized. By providing the TRM Directory online, UtiliPoint hopes that prospective buyers of such software have a definitive and central source to research the vendor space.

In our book, "Trends in Energy Trading, Transaction & Risk Management Software - A Primer" we provide both a historical perspective and a lengthy explanation as to why there are so many vendors in the space. In a nutshell however, the physical aspects of moving and managing various energy and other commodities in regional markets adds a good deal of complexity while the reporting needs related to the different assets employed in the business at different locations adds another layer of complexity. For those and other reasons, it seems that there is room for niche vendors that can provide a best-in-class approach to a particular piece of functionality.

Indeed, new vendors continue to emerge. Recently, UtiliPoint talked to a UK-based vendor, Contigo, about their new products aimed at communication and trading in UK and European energy markets. Contigo started out in 2006 developing custom software but now have three off the shelf products available and are already signing clients in the UK gas industry.

I have already written an
IssueAlert article about Hyperrig, another new UK-based vendor who's approach has been to look at things in a different light and bring to the market a platform that both offers the ability to integrate your current software components as well as add a whole new dimension to risk analysis including pre-trade VaR and other calculations. Hyperrig isn't necessarily a replacement for your existing Trading & Risk Management solution, though potentially it could be. Hyper Rig is a technical framework that can be added to your existing set up, complement it and enhance it. As such, the architecture has been designed to include features such as orchestration, exceptions management and audit, messaging, integrated security, automatic failover, monitoring, load-balancing, virtual computation-grid and data quality management.

Just a year or so ago, I also wrote an IssueAlert article about Abacus Solutions and its new SATURN software product which we believe is tailored to asset-centric trading operations and also brings a new dimension to risk management. SATURN has its focus on "solving the Integration problem," according to Dr. Salim Jabbour, founder of Abacus. "True Integration goes beyond linking a bunch of systems; it involves removing unnecessary redundancies and offering a common scalable platform with broad analytical functionality," he adds. The focus on the physical side of the business puts SATURN in the "Asset ETRM" software space (an expression I coined last year in IssueAlert article to point out that for asset-heavy entities, many ETRM systems lacked certain functions such as asset optimization, bid to bill functionality, real-time trading and market modeling). The software was designed to analyze production, capabilities, requirements, revenues, costs, profits and risks for a portfolio of assets and contracts and to facilitate decision making, transaction management, data analysis, and compliance with regulatory requirements.

There are other new vendors bringing to market new innovations and products to complement the existing CTRM vendor and product landscape quite frequently. Meanwhile, the existing vendors are not standing still either.
Triple Point has made several acquisitions over the last year including ROME and INSSINC adding functionality in credit management, fair value accounting and hedge accounting to its platform or as stand-alone modules to integrate with other CTM software. SolArc, SunGard, OLF and Allegro have also been busy while Navita has been consolidating its ground in Europe after its acquisition of UK-based AESL and has signed several new license deals during that period.

In short, the CTRM software space is a complex and highly dynamic software niche and it is difficult to keep up with all the changes taking place there. Hopefully, the TRM Directory will become your online source to keep up?