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Linedata Services announces additional multi-million Euro R&D investment for its Icon product
Added: (Mon Mar 01 2004)
London, 1 March 2004 - Linedata Services, a leading provider of software and services to the global financial services marketplace, unveiled its 3-year strategic plan for its leading back-office system, Icon, at its User Group meeting last month.
In a series of presentations Linedata Services announced its commitment to increased R&D investment and expanded on its plans for Icon between 2004 and 2006, starting with a schedule of developments over the next 15 months. This will not only allow it to capitalise on its core competencies over the next three years, but also to continue to meet the changing needs of the market.
More specifically, Linedata Services will be focusing on new functionality, market data and system inter-operability with a “toolkit” approach, providing more flexibility to meet an even wider range of requirements. The extra investment will allow the company to increase its development significantly to maintain and extend its market leading position, while continuing to improve the quality of its system and associated services.
Julian Baines, Investment Servicing Manager at Royal London Asset Management and the Chairman of the Icon User Group, commented, “The news of Linedata Services’ investment in Icon and the content of the 3-year plan was well received by the Icon User Group. It is good to see the owners of Icon take a proactive approach to planning for the future, responding to its customers’ needs and increasing the possibilities of the selling of their product, which can only be good news for its current user base.”
Capitalising on the success of its content-driven release strategy, Linedata Services’ 3-year plan is designed to make sure that each new release of the product brings significant benefits to its customers.
The latest major version of Icon was released last year and included, amongst other new features, a Data Integration Platform to improve the flexibility of the system for market data acquisition and providing more intelligent exception handling. A rewarding 40% of the Icon customer base is already live or in the process of testing this release. This level of success can in part be attributed to Linedata Services’ innovative Early Support Platform (ESP).
Katrina Hamilton, Project Manager at Liberata Life, Pensions and Investments Ltd, addressed the User Group to explain how ESP has benefited Liberata’s upgrade to the latest version. She summarised, “The ESP made the upgrade very easy for us at Liberata. Two of the key areas that really made a difference were the project planning assistance beforehand and the ongoing additional support during our acceptance testing.”
Paul Roberts, Chief Operating Officer at Linedata Services, concluded, “Linedata Services’ proactive approach to developing and maintaining the Icon product, working closely with its customer base, has proved to be very successful. We look forward to continuing to demonstrate our commitment to Icon and our customers in the future.”
ENDS
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Notes to Editors:
About Royal London Asset Management
Royal London Asset Management is asset manager to the Royal London Group. The Royal London Group includes The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited, Royal London Cash Management, Scottish Life, Bright Grey, Royal London Asset Management (Ireland) and Royal London Private Equity. As asset managers to the group, Royal London Asset Management and Royal London Cash Management presently manage approximately £23.08 billion assets (as at end December 03).
About the Icon Product
Linedata Services’ Icon product is a complete back-office fund management and administration solution, designed to manage and account for securities and currencies in all types of funds and for all sizes of institution. Icon’s ‘all-in-one’ functionality spans real-time investment accounting, portfolio valuation, collective investment pricing and management/client reporting. Icon can be deployed by customers in a number of ways depending on the degree of control and, particularly, Icon administration they are comfortable with - fully In-House, Facilities Managed and ASP.
About the Icon User Group
The Icon User Group began in the mid 1990’s and has since run on either an annual or biannual basis. It is chaired by an Icon customer and the Icon customers themselves collectively determine its timing, location and agenda. Each meeting typically consists of a series of presentations and workshops given by both Linedata Services and Icon users. Topics have included strategy and development updates, business areas of common interest and product specific issues.
About Linedata Services
Linedata Services is the leader in the financial technology market, delivering best-of-breed global solutions and consulting services for asset management, leasing and credit finance, and insurance and savings. Linedata Services’ asset management offerings include a full array of front, middle and back-office products designed to help streamline the investment process and facilitate STP. For more information visit Linedata Services at www.linedata.com.
For further press information, photography, or sales enquiries please contact:
Julian Baines
Chairman
Icon User Group
Tel. +44 (0) 20 7506 6684
Email. julian.baines@rlam.co.uk
Beth Stansby
Product Marketing
Linedata Services (UK) Ltd
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7360 1946
Email: beth.stansby@linedata.com
Paul Roberts
Chief Operating Officer
Linedata Services (UK) Ltd
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7360 1892
Email: paul.roberts@linedata.com