Dear Technology Colleagues at Derivatives Exchanges, I’m sure you do not need me to inform you that the investment community is becoming more aware of the importance of dependable software operating our exchanges. Yet many of your competitors have fallen victim to the reputational damage caused by software glitches. Many of us, as technology professionals and as individual investors, are shocked to see the escalating pace of major software outages reported by the exchanges and major market makers.
Category Archives: CAST News
Who you gonna call when a fake AP tweet blows up Wall Street?
Why our very own Lev Lesokhin, of course. If you were on Twitter Tuesday (or watching the market index), you no doubt saw AP’s fake tweet regarding an explosion at the White House that wounded the president, and the market and media frenzy that followed as a result. Not only was it remarkable to see the effect one rogue tweet could have on market stability (it temporarily wiped out $136B from the S&P 500), but the whole episode also underscored how fast paced the world of business has become.
Transparent IT portfolios help businesses succeed
It seems like every three months there is a new mobile device that changes everything. New operating systems, from Windows 8, Blackberry 10, and Android’s Jellybean, come out once a year with updated interfaces and features. Even new programming languages are starting to pop-up. But now we’re finding that some of the stuff we built 5 years ago is still pretty good, and maybe just need a UI facelift, mobile app, or delivery method. But remember, it shouldn’t be about the fanciest, shiniest toy (even if they are nice to have). It should be about delivering relevant tools to the business, which can be accessed everywhere and can talk to everything. … Read More
Learning to survive in the new normal of IT Program Management
The sequestration has hit a lot of organizations hard, and IT intensive programs aren’t ducking the proverbial bullet. In the decade since 9-11, organizations had more money and resources to give to development teams to fix their application’s performance issues. But now that the nation is trying to fix its fiscal woes, every day and dollar counts.
Two great new features drive Highlight 1.7 update
Good news Highlight fans! We’re taking our SaaS software analysis and measurement platform to the next level with our most recent release, Highlight 1.7. This release focuses on automation and improving the quality of web based applications. You can read more about it in our most recent press release. The two major features of this upgrade are: PHP analyzer: We added a PHP code quality analyzer that enables you to include web applications or components in your portfolio analysis. Highlight now checks the quality of the code of client-facing web applications such as custom-built shopping carts, communication sites, or web portals designed to increase worker productivity. Automation toolkit: You can … Read More
CAST supports OMG’s Automated Function Point Standard
For the past 30 years, leaders in application development have struggled to find a cost-effective way to bring the benefits of function point analysis to their larger scale ADM outsourcing contracts. Why is this an issue? As the chemist John Grebe once said, “if you cannot measure it, you cannot control it.” That’s why today, CAST is proud to announce our support for the Object Management Group’s (OMG) Automated Function Point (AFP) Standard. The standard enables wide scale adoption of function points for sizing applications to be embedded in all ADM outsourcing contracts, and signifies a game changing event that will propel function point counting from a cottage industry to … Read More
An Open Letter to BATS’ Chris Isaacson
Every time a Wall Street firm’s trading software goes rogue, or an international bank’s back-end IT hiccups, leaving customers stranded, an audible groan rises from our offices. We’re frustrated because we’re tired of seeing common — and preventable — mistakes slip through the cracks in what are supposed to be world-class software development organizations. Our goal is to let these organizations know just how easy it could be to improve the resiliency, security and performance of their enterprise systems. To that end, we’ve released an open letter to Chris Isaacson, the Chief Operating Officer at BATS Global Markets offering a five-point plan, as well as some friendly advice, on how … Read More