Trading screen of the future
THE IPC “trader cockpit” is an intriguing piece of design. It integrates video streaming, voice and video calling and the ability to set up automatic filters depending on the big market news that the system picks up at the time. It is clean-looking compared to some more Heath Robinson setups and looking at it, you can’t wait to give it a whirl. The problem is that it doesn’t exist and IPC Systems, the company that has been demonstrating the concept, has no plans to develop such a system.
WHAT COULD BE
“IPC’s Trader Cockpit is designed as a proof of concept, to aid head traders and IT strategists and architects to visualise how social networking, video, voice and trading applications can be integrated to maximise trading floor productivity, says Simon Jones, senior product marketing manager at IPC Systems. Although a concept, all of the technology shown in the Trader Cockpit is available and credible, though typically not yet deployed on the trading floor – the conversion of an audio feed to text for instance, is most often seen in the call centre industry. “The Trader Cockpit looks ahead to the changing communications needs and expectations of traders,” says Jones. “It is proving a great aid for stimulating challenging conversation within our customers – presenting a set of concepts to gain alignment between traders and IT managers as they plan their future trading floors.”
DIY
Though not yet available on professional trading floors, there is no reason why you can’t take a look at the IPC concepts and implement them at home. One of the biggest things holding back trading floor setups are the compliance and bandwidth considerations for IT managers. Bloomberg TV is available for free online and filters can easily be applied to your news feeds. For retail traders, the key thing to take away from the concept is the cleanness of the setup visually – attempt to replicate this on your home trading PC.