On Streaming Analytics. Q&A with James Corcoran
James Corcoran, is CTO Enterprise Solutions at Kx.
Q1. What are your current projects as CTO at First Derivatives PLC?
We are focused on the continued development of Kx Streaming Analytics, helping businesses turn real-time data into actionable insights leading to enhanced business outcomes. We have a long pedigree in the financial and capital markets sector as the streaming analytics platform of choice for algorithmic and high-frequency trading and regulatory compliance and surveillance. We will continue to serve this sector while building out compelling propositions for firms in other industries where the need to manage and analyse large amounts of data in real time is a critical requirement, whether that’s to mitigate risk or take advantage of new opportunities. Companies across telecoms, high-tech manufacturing, energy and utilities are utilizing Kx as part of their data management and analytics strategy.
Q2. What are the most pressing challenges for you in this period?
Ease of use is a key area of focus. Kx Streaming Analytics has interfaces with most major programming languages (including Python, C++ and Java), messaging protocols and can run on the main cloud platforms. It’s deployable on cloud, on premise, on edge or in hybrid configurations and can run on commodity hardware for reduced TCO. Implementing large-scale data management and streaming analytics projects can be tricky. We know for example that in IoT environments, projects can take twice as long to implement according to Gartner. We want to make it as simple as possible for companies to deploy Kx and start realising the benefits quickly.
Q3. You have recently announced that First Derivatives has been selected by a global oilfield services company for the use of Kx technology to provide operational intelligence for their customers’ oil and gas field assets.
The client has deployed Kx to enable new processes and data-intensive analytics both centrally and in the field, where compute resources are limited, and operational conditions can be challenging. This project perfect illustrates Kx’s suitability for IoT environments where large volumes of data from sensors need to be captured, analysed – often with historical data – and turned into actionable insights in near real time. The client expects to generate a high return on investment and we expect this user scenario to be of interest across the broader energy and industrial IoT markets.
Q4. You also announced earlier this year that Kx has entered into a strategic partnership with Keysight Technologies. What do you expect from such partnership?
We know Kx technology is game changing for our customers. By partnering with forward-thinking companies like Keysight Technologies we are making it easier and faster to implement streaming analytics technologies that solve critical business issues and drive value.
Kx will be deployed within Keysight’s PathWave Manufacturing Analytics Industry 4.0-ready big data platform, which accelerates ROI in smart factory digital transformation by providing real time actionable insights to improve operational efficiency. The Analytics-As-A-Service platform acquires, transforms, ingests and analyzes test equipment data. The partnership with Kx combines Keysight’s test and measurement domain expertise with data science, using high-performance data mining and machine learning models that works for electronics manufacturing.
Q5. Also earlier this year you have announced that Kx has been selected by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation to build and manage its next generation e-FX platform.
Our work with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is a great example of our compelling proposition in financial markets, namely deep sector expertise combined with class-leading Kx technology. We were selected thanks to our ability to deliver superior electronic execution, broad distribution capabilities, algorithmic trading and effective risk management supported by advanced real-time pre and post trade analytics.Phase one of the implementation is live and the client is already benefiting from tighter spreads, deeper liquidity and higher fill rates. The solution represents an integral part of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s FX ecosystem and enables the bank to rapidly deliver a comprehensive market-leading service to meet the needs of its dealers and customers alike.
Sponsored by Kx.