OStatic

While there have been some questionable strategies playing out on Wall Street recently, and the Securities and Exchange Commission continues to scrutinize the legalities of a few high frequency trading techniques, former NYSE chairman William H. Donaldson's statement to New York Times holds true: if an individual investor can't keep up with larger brokerages, it's a major disadvantage.

Marketcetera feels that open source software is an ideal way for smaller brokerages to keep up with -- and perhaps outmaneuver -- their larger competition. Marketcetera CEO Graham Miller sees open source hosted/SaaS (software as a service) trading platforms as having particular potential for investors using high frequency trading methods. And Miller isn't the only one who believes this -- the evidence is vibrantly illustrated by Sky Road LLC's integration of Marketcetera's open source, automated trading platform into its SaaS financial services product line.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that IBM is currently in talks to purchase Sun Microsystems. The acquisition is not a foregone conclusion, due in part to the very different corporate cultures in the companies. Some believe this tension will ultimately help both companies succeed, if they can just get through the talks.

The acquisition could take place as early as this week, and it is speculated that IBM could pay over $6.5 billion for Sun. Sun's recent financials have been more than a little disappointing, and this purchase would take a toll on IBM's profits in the short term. Business isn't solely about the short term, however, and I can't help but agree with the WSJ, CNet's Matt Asay, and at least a few of those involved in the talks that this acquisition would be a positive one for IBM, Sun, and open source in general.

The Marketcetera team is as aware as the rest of us that economic changes are coming fast and furious, and that open source software can have an impact on a company's -- or individual's -- financial future. Honestly, one could say Marketcetera is twice as aware of open source software's financial potential.

Today, Marketcetera released the first full production release of its open source automated trading platform. Aimed at hedge fund managers, traders, brokers and dealers, the system is standardized, open, scalable and modular. This, says Marketcetera CEO Graham Miller, offers users faster deployments, better integration, and the ability to customize everything from the public APIs to data models.