2012 E/CTRM Vendor Perception Study

2012

E/CTRM Vendor Perception Study

April 2012

Sponsored by

2012 CTRM Software Perceptions Study

2 © UtiliPoint International, Inc. 2012 No portion of this report may be reproduced without the written permission of UtiliPoint International Inc.

Contents Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 5

Preamble ..................................................................................................................................................... 7

Methodology and Demographics ............................................................................................................... 7

Survey Demographics ............................................................................................................................. 8

Respondents Installed Base .................................................................................................................... 9

CTRM Vendor Perceptions ........................................................................................................................ 13

Brand Awareness .................................................................................................................................. 13

Market Leadership ................................................................................................................................ 18

Market Leadership by Commodity/Functional Coverage ..................................................................... 21

Overall Energy Commodities ............................................................................................................ 23

Crude Oil and Crude Products Trading ............................................................................................. 24

Natural Gas Trading .......................................................................................................................... 26

Power Trading ................................................................................................................................... 26

Coal Trading ...................................................................................................................................... 27

Agricultural Commodities Trading .................................................................................................... 28

Metals Trading – Precious and Base ................................................................................................. 29

Freight Rates Trading ........................................................................................................................ 31

Shipping ............................................................................................................................................. 32

Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 33

CTRM Technical and Product Attribute Perceptions ............................................................................ 34

SaaS or Hosted Delivery .................................................................................................................... 34

Overall Architecture .......................................................................................................................... 35

Market Perception Trends .................................................................................................................... 37

North America ................................................................................................................................... 37

Europe ............................................................................................................................................... 39

Overall Comparison with 2008 Proprietary Survey .......................................................................... 40

Purchase Plans and Buying Criteria .......................................................................................................... 42

Required Commodity Coverage ............................................................................................................ 44



Ranking Functional Requirements and Attributes ................................................................................ 45

What Vendor Attributes are most important? ..................................................................................... 46

About CommodityPoint ............................................................................................................................ 48

About the Report Author .......................................................................................................................... 49

Study Sponsors

ASPECT Enterprise ................................................................................................................................. 51

Brady ..................................................................................................................................................... 53

capSpire ................................................................................................................................................. 55

iRely ....................................................................................................................................................... 57



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Executive Summary Market perceptions of leadership in various aspects of E/CTRM are useful indicators as to which

product companies have developed strong brand awareness and a reputation for producing products

that can meet generalized or specific needs of various market participants. However, for companies

seeking to purchase a new technology solution, these perceptions should be but an element of a

comprehensive selection process that takes into consideration the ability of any vendor to meet the

multitude of requirements that one might have when operating in a very complex marketplace such as

energy and commodities trading.

The results of our survey of 60 total respondents, representing 58 different companies around the

world, shows five companies are most often recognized as being providers of software in E/CTRM.

Those five include OpenLink Financials (OpenLink), Triple Point Technology (Triple Point), Allegro

Development (Allegro), SunGard Energy and Commodities (SunGard) and Solarc (which was acquired

by OpenLink during the data collection phase of this research). Other companies also received

numerous mentions in overall market awareness, including Ventyx/ABB, Navita (recently acquired by

Brady), Murex, Amphora, Brady, Contigo and Encompass.

OpenLink was most often noted by our respondents as the overall leader in E/CTRM, followed by Triple

Point and Allegro. Leadership views for specific commodities or functional areas are summarized in

the following table:

Commodity Leading Vendor Second Vendor Third Vendor Energy Commodities

Overall OpenLink Triple Point Allegro

Electric Power Trading OpenLink SunGard Triple Point

Natural Gas Trading OpenLink Triple Point & Allegro N/A

Crude and Crude Products Trading

SolArc Triple Point Allegro & OpenLink

Coal Trading SolArc Allegro Triple Point



We asked our survey participants to score the necessity of various functional capabilities of CTRM

products on a scale that ranged from "Not Important" to "Critical". The results show that for our

respondent group, the ability to capture and manage physical commodity transactions was the most

critical attribute they would consider when seeking a new solution. Financial commodity transaction

management ranked second and risk management capabilities ranked third in overall importance to

the group. These capabilities were followed by multi-commodity capabilities and physical logistics

support (both evenly ranked).

We also measured our respondent group's views as to what they deem to be the most important

vendor attributes – those factors outside of features/functionality of the product itself. The tested

factors included: provision of quality support services, competitive product pricing, consider to status

as a "top vendor" and the availability of quality consulting resources for the product. Of those factors,

quality vendor supplied support ranked highest, ahead of both "availability of quality consulting

resources" and competitive pricing (essentially equally ranked). A vendor's status as a "Top Vendor"

was deemed to be significantly less critical than the other attributes when seeking a new product

supplier.

Agricultural Commodities Triple Point OpenLink EKA

Base Metals Brady OpenLink SunGard

Precious Metals Brady Murex OpenLink & Triple Point

Freight Rates Triple Point Allegro, Open Link,

SunGard N/A

Shipping Triple Point Allegro, OpenLink & SolArc N/A



Preamble The CommodityPoint CTRM/ETRM Vendor Perception Study, which has been repeated approximately

every two to three years, polls users and industry professionals regarding their views of the technology

vendors servicing the space. It should be noted that the results do represent perceptions and as such,

should not be relied upon as the sole determinate to judge any vendors' capabilities as they might

apply to any particular organization's needs. That being said, the results are useful to a wide variety of

groups who are tracking the CTRM software space as it establishes patterns regarding brand strength

and perceptions of market leadership. The results also allow us, as market analysts, to draw

conclusions (backed-up with other research) about the state of the CTRM market and the market

landscape. This report presents the results of the latest study and compares the data with other

perception studies undertaken by CommodityPoint/UtiliPoint in the past to provide a historical

perspective and analysis.

Methodology and Demographics The CommodityPoint ETRM Vendor Perception study was undertaken primarily via a survey instrument

developed specifically for the study (appendix C). The survey received responses from 68 respondents

representing 63 companies. Of the total 68 responses, 8 were eliminated due to incompleteness,

invalid email addresses and contact names or they originated from a vendor in the space. The survey

was conducted from October 2011 until the end of January 2012 using both HTML email pushes along

with researcher calls to likely candidates. It therefore represents a snapshot of perceptions as of the

end of 2011.

During the data collection phase of this research, a couple of notable events occurred – OpenLink

Financials (OpenLink) announced the purchase of SolArc in late November 2011, and Brady PLC (Brady)

announced the acquisition of Navita and Syseca in early February 2012. Given the timing of these

events, we have not combined the results of the acquired entities with those of the acquiring

companies. Clearly there will be a shifts in brand recognition over time related to these mergers and

acquisitions; however, at the time of this writing, it's unclear how OpenLink and Brady will manage the

acquired brands – will they maintain these brand names for some period, or will they be rebranded in

order to harmonize the companies' marketing messages? In particular, the SolArc name does carry



significant awareness and market equity and it will be interesting to see what the future may hold for

that brand.

Survey Demographics Of the 60 responses considered in our analysis, 58% originated with respondents based in North

America, 36% with respondents based in Europe and 7% from respondents based in other regions

(Figure 1). Given the concentration of responses from North America and Europe, the results are often

presented in total as well as those two geographies broken out separately.

Figure 1 - Respondent location demographics

The respondents represented a good mix of industry sectors with merchant trading firms (trading

energy and/or non-energy commodities), utilities, and consultants/systems integrators being the most

represented segments (Figure 2). The survey allowed consultants and systems integrators to

participate as they regularly engage with end-users and their experiences with the various vendors

provides valuable insights. Energy and non-energy producers and financial organizations including

funds and banks were also well represented. European respondents were primarily Utilities,

Consultants and Merchant/Trading Firms; while in North America, the mix was somewhat more diverse

58%

36%

5%

2%

Respondent Locations

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

South America


9 © UtiliPoint International, Inc 2012 No portion of this report may be reproduced without the written permission of UtiliPoint International Inc.

with good numbers of Merchants/Trading Firms, Consultants, Producers, Banks/Hedge Funds, and

Utilities. In other parts of the world we saw participation from Consultants and Merchant/Traders in

Asia/Pacific and Producers in South America.

Figure 2 - Types of Respondent Company

Respondents Installed Base The respondents were asked about their current installed ETRM software so as to provide possible

insights as to the basis for their perception responses, with those receiving multiple notes shown

below in Figure 3.

Of the respondent group, Allegro was most noted with 9% of the total user responses. SunGard Zainet,

OpenLink Endur, and SolArc RightAngle products were also often noted. In all, some 34 different

systems were noted, with 15 of those being used by more than one respondent. Interestingly, the

second most often cited system was "Home Grown" or "custom".

As in recent years, the large number of different vendor solutions installed demonstrates that ETRM

software is still a somewhat immature software category, with a significant number of providers

34%

29%

19%

12%5%

2%

Respondent Company Types

Merchant Trading Firm

Consultant/System Integrator

Utility/Generator

Producer (Oil & Gas, Mining, Ags, Softs, etc)

Bank, Hedge Fund or other Financial Institution

Refiner/ Chemical/ Petrochemical



servicing regional or functionally niche market segments. Despite that, this survey does suggest, and as

vendor M&A activity would indicate, that consolidation is under way and a small group of dominant

vendors are becoming increasingly even more dominant over time. Nonetheless, given the diverse

industry segments represented in the survey, the wide range of solutions in use should not be a

surprise.

It's important to also note that many respondents utilized several different solutions, supporting

previous CommodityPoint research showing that many firms utilize multiple systems, in some cases up

to five or more, to manage their energy and/or trading and risk management functions1.

Figure 3 - CTRM System in Use

There were also some intriguing differences in responses relative to installed systems between North

America and Europe. In Europe, OpenLink was noted as the respondents' installed system most often

on par with ComFin, Allegro, and "Home Grown"; and the company ranked at or near the top in most

1 Benchmarking of European ETRM Software Markets, UtiliPoint Report, 2007

0%1%2%3%4%5%6%7%8%9%

10%

Respondent System(s) in UsePercent of all Respondents in all Regions



of the leadership categories polled. In North America, few OpenLink users responded to our survey,

yet the perceptions of leadership for the company were very similar in both regions.

In both North America and Europe, the responses included a disproportionally large number of small

vendor solutions when compared to total number of installed systems for all vendors. In North

America (Figure 4), EnCompass and Woodlands Solutions users responded at a higher rate (relative to

total number of installs) than any other vendors' users. In Europe (Figure 5), Comfin and Contigo users

also participated in numbers that do not proportionally reflect their number of deployed systems

versus their competition.

The large number of "Home Grown" responses are not necessary reflective of the respondents having

developed fully capable custom CTRM systems. Based upon the responses provided and reinforced

with our experience in the market, it's clear that the majority of these "Home Grown" or custom

systems have been developed and deployed to manage a particular business function or enhance a

capability that a respondent's company felt was not sufficiently "covered" by commercial systems.

Figure 4 - Systems in Use – North America Only

0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16%

Solarc

SunGard Aligne

SunGard Fuelworx

TransEnergy

Woodlands Solutions - Phoenix

Triple Point

EnCompass

SunGard Zainet

Allegro

Home Grown

Percent of Total Respondents in Region

Respondents System in Use - North America



Figure 5 - Systems in Use – Europe Only

Respondents in this 2011 version of our perception study indicate a higher level of satisfaction with

their installed system than we have seen in previous studies, with a large majority of users now

indicating they are either "Satisfied" or "Very Satisfied" with their current system (Figure 6). In past

years, the rankings tended to be more skewed toward a higher level of dissatisfaction with the

installed systems.

Figure 6 - Satisfaction Rankings with Installed Solution

0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16%

Contigo EnTrader

Solarc

SunGard Zainet

Allegro

Home Grown

OpenLink Endur

TheBulldog by Comfin

Percent of Total Respondents in Region

Respondents System in Use - Europe

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

Dissatisfied Somewhat Satisfied Satisfied Very Satisfied

Satisfaction Levels with Current System



CTRM Vendor Perceptions

Brand Awareness CommodityPoint utilizes a number of questions to help determine vendor perceptions. As we've done

in the past, one of the areas that we tested was the market's familiarity and awareness of those

vendors. This was done by asking the respondents to name all the vendors that they know of that

provide CTRM software, without utilizing any aides – relying solely on their memory.

As in recent years, the most commonly mentioned CTRM software vendors remain the same, albeit

with a slight shuffling in order. In this current study, OpenLink (including DBC and IRM) is most

commonly mentioned, with Triple Point a very close second and Allegro third within a few percentage

points of the top positions. These top three are followed by SunGard and SolArc, with a fairly

significant drop in awareness down to the rest of the vendors on the list. As OpenLink's acquisition of

SolArc occurred in the middle of our data collection efforts, we did list them separately for this year's

report. As the OpenLink brand is introduced across SolArc's customers, the company should expect

some additional increased brand awareness though it will clearly not be fully additive as many in the

industry are very familiar with both companies (Figure 7).

Figure 7 on the following page shows the vendors who gained multiple mentions from respondents.

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Figure 7 - First to Mind Brand Recognition

Brady, already seeing increased awareness in this study versus 2009 (Figure 8), is likely to see a

significant boost with their recent acquisitions of Navita and Syseca, particularly given that Navita was

tied for 6th in the results this year. We would expect to see the company emerging in our next report

in the top 4 or 5 in brand awareness given their newly established status as the number four CTRM

vendor in terms of revenues and their increasingly rapid expansion into energy commodity trading.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EnergeyaEnsyte

TradePaqAbacusAspectEntero

QuorumComfin

Pioneer SolutionsOATIEKASAS

Woodland SolutionsEnCompass

BradyContigo

AmphoraMurexNavita

Ventyx\ABBSolArc

SunGardAllegro

Triple Point TechnologyOLF (incl. IRM & DBC)

Unprompted Vendor Recognition -All Regions



Figure 8 – Unprompted Vendor Awareness – 2009 vs. 2011

In this year's survey, we also saw a significant number of companies increasing their awareness or

emerging for the first time into the upper echelon of the list, including Contigo, Encompass, Woodlands

Solutions, SAS and EKA.

Again, the differences between North American and European respondents provide interesting

insights. In North America (Figure 9), OpenLink, despite the low number of respondents that actually

utilize the product, shares an equal number of "first to mind" mentions to Allegro and Triple Point from

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

EnergeyaEnsyte

TradePaqAbacusAspectEntero

QuorumComfin

Pioneer SolutionsOATIEKASAS

Woodland SolutionsEnCompass

ContigoBrady

AmphoraMurexNavita

Ventyx\ABBSolArc

SunGardAllegro

Triple Point TechnologyOpenLink (inc. IRM & DBC)

Percent of Respondent Mentions

Unprompted Vendor Awareness - 2009 vs. 2011

2009

2011



our respondent group, with SunGard and SolArc again filling out the top 5. New entrants to our list in

this year's study are Encompass and Woodland Solutions, companies which have relatively small install

bases as compared to those for the top 5 vendors.

Figure 9 - First to Mind Brand Recognition – North America Only

In Europe (Figure 10), OpenLink has a small lead in unprompted recognition over Triple Point and a

slightly larger lead over Allegro. The gap between the top 5 versus the rest of the pack is much

narrower in Europe. This is consistent with what we have observed in the past - the European market

is less operationally homogenous, and regional or niche vendors occupy a larger percentage of the

market and therefore a larger percentage of the unprompted mind share. For instance Contigo and

Navita are well established players in those areas in which they originated initially as regional solutions

– Navita in the NordPool and Contigo in the UK power and gas markets.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Murex

SAS RiskAdvisory

OATI

Quorum

EKA

EMA

Amphora

WoodLand Solutions

EnCompass

Ventyx/ABB

Solarc

SunGard

Triple Point

Allegro

OpenLink (inc. IRM & DBC)

Percent of Respondent Mentions in Region

Unprompted Brand Recognition -North America



Figure 10 - First to Mind Brand Recognition – Europe Only

When the results from the two largest market areas are combined (Figure 10), the results indicate a

clear "top 5" in brand awareness which coincides with the 5 largest ETRM/CTRM companies in terms of

revenues (prior to the OLF acquisition of SolArc and the acquisitions by Brady in early 2012).

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Ventyx/ABB

OATI

Pioneer Solutions

Abacus

Energeya

SAS RiskAdvisory

ComFin

Amphora

Brady

Murex

Navita

Contigo

Solarc

SunGard

Allegro

Triple Point

OpenLink (inc. IRM & DBC)

Percent of Mentions by Respondents in Region

Unprompted Brand Recognition -Europe



Figure 11 - First to Mind Brand Recognition – Europe and North America Combined

Market Leadership In terms of respondent’s views about overall market leadership, OpenLink is most commonly viewed as

the market leader by over 30% of the respondents in all geographies combined. Triple Point ranked

second being noted by 20%. Allegro was noted as being the leader by 10% of the group with SunGard

and SolArc also receiving multiple mentions as the overall leader (Figure 12).

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

ComFinEMA

Pioneer SolutionsEKA

OATISAS RiskAdvisory

WoodLand SolutionsBrady

EnCompassAmphora

ContigoNavitaMurex

Ventyx/ABBSolarc

SunGardAllegro

Triple PointOpenLink (inc. IRM & DBC)

Percent of Mentions by Respondents in Regions

Unprompted Brand Recognition -Europe and North America

Percentage Mentions by Respondents in Those Regions

North America

Europe



Figure 12 - Overall Market Leadership Perceptions

Those that didn't know or felt there is no overall market leader in CTRM show up quite strongly;

however, those responses are a lower percentage of total responses than in previous surveys and show

a coalescing of opinion around the largest vendors.

OpenLink’s perceived market leadership was very strong in Europe where it was cited more than twice

as often as its nearest competitor, Triple Point. In North America, OpenLink also maintained a leading

position; however that lead over its nearest rival, Triple Point, was not as great as that in Europe.

Allegro ranked fairly consistently in both geographies, noted by around 10% in both regions as being

the market leader (Figures 13 thru 15).

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

BradyContigo

NavitaEncompass

SolarcSunGard

NoneAllegro

Don't KnowTriple Point

OpenLink

Percent of Mentions by Respondents

Perceived Overall Market Leader - All Respondents



Figure 13 - Overall Market Leadership Perceptions – North America

Figure 14 - Overall Market Leadership Perceptions – Europe

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

Brady

Encompass

None

SunGard

Solarc

Allegro

Don't Know

Triple Point

OpenLink

Percent Mentions by Respondents in Region

Overall Market Leadership - North America

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

Contigo

Navita

SunGard

Allegro

None

Triple Point

Don't Know

OpenLink

Percent Mentions by Respondents in Region

Overall Market Leadership - Europe



Figure 15 - Overall Market Leadership Perceptions – Combined Europe and North America

Market Leadership by Commodity/Functional Coverage Market leadership by commodity or functional coverage was assessed through a series of questions

that asked respondents to identify the market leader in categories such as "Physical Transaction

Management for Crude Oil". As has been the case in previous CommodityPoint perception studies,

many respondents did not answer these questions as they either had no particular opinion or did not

feel qualified to volunteer an opinion. There is obviously a correlation between the number of non-

responses for each category and the entity type indicated by the respondents (i.e. Utilities do not

generally trade agricultural commodities).

In each of the categories listed on the following pages, those that did not volunteer an answer were

excluded from the results and the denominator for the percentage calculations were adjusted

accordingly. However, respondents that answered with the choices “Don’t Know” and “None” were

included as a valid response as those responses could be seen as an indicator of market maturity or as

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

Brady

Encompass

Contigo

Navita

Solarc

SunGard

None

Allegro

Don't Know

Triple Point

OpenLink

Percent Mentions by Respondents in Regions

Overall Market Leadership - Eruope vs. North America

Europe

North America



an indicator of the relative strength of leadership role for those vendors that were named in that

particular category.

As has been observed in past market perception surveys, in almost every area of functional coverage

the same 4-6 vendors were deemed to be the market leader by the bulk of respondents with other

vendors only breaking into the top 5 for very specific functional areas. This suggests that the top 4-6

vendors have developed a reputation for having very broad functional coverage that is often

considered to be adequate to meet users’ requirements. We also observe that this gap between the

top 4-6 vendors and the rest the market is broadening over time.

The results from the various categories indicate OpenLink and Triple Point have both developed a

strong market position in multiple functional areas and geographies. OpenLink, with its high rank in

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terms of overall market leadership perception, was also noted as the Leader in four

commodity/functional categories (including ties), with high ranks (a rank of second, third, or fourth) in

six others. Triple Point scored almost as equally well, being perceived as leader in three categories and

highly ranked in nine others. Allegro was ranked as the leader in one category (tied with OpenLink in

"Overall Architecture") and highly ranked in nine others. SunGard (including Kiodex) ranked as the

category leader once, with high ranks in 5 other categories. SolArc was mentioned as the leader in two

categories and received high ranks in one other. Brady received leadership nods in two metals related

categories, Base Metals and Precious Metals.

Specifically, OpenLink ranked first in Overall Energy, Electric Power, Natural Gas and in Overall

Architecture (tied with Allegro). Triple Point was ranked first in Agricultural Commodities, Freight

Rates, and Shipping. Allegro was tied with OpenLink in Overall Architecture. SunGard's Kiodex product

was noted as the leader in SaaS delivery and SolArc received category leader nods in Crude/Crude

Products and Coal. As previously noted, Brady was the category leader in both Precious Metals and

Base Metals.

Overall Energy Commodities It would appear that much of OpenLink's overall perceived leadership position in CTRM can be

attributed in large part to the market's view of their leadership in energy commodities. In all, 37% of

the respondents ranked OpenLink as the leader in "Energy Commodities Overall", nearly tripling the

score of their closest rival Triple Point. Interestingly, Triple Point's ranking in this category was below

their score in perceived leadership in overall CTRM. Allegro was at near parity with their score in

overall CTRM, with around 9% of our respondents noting them as the leader in this category.

Encompass entered the ranks of the leaders in this category as well, demonstrating solid brand support

from their clients who participated in this research.

As one might expect given the maturity of the ETRM markets, the levels of "Don't Know" or "None"

responses were much lower relative to the other non-energy related categories which have only with

the last several years become an area of focus for the larger solutions vendors.



Figure 16 – Energy Commodities Overall

Crude Oil and Crude Products Trading While SolArc and Triple Point were perceived to be the top two in this category by those who named a

particular vendor, it should be noted that the results indicate that SolArc has a more dominant position

in North America than in Europe in this category, while Triple Point enjoys a significant advantage in

the European market perception for crude and crude products trading. The rankings in Europe are a

change from our last perception survey which had placed OpenLink in the second position overall

based upon a strong showing from European respondents. This latest survey now places OpenLink in

parity with Allegro, with the two companies sharing similar perceptions levels across all geographies.

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%

Perceived Leadership -Energy Commodities Overall

Europe

North America

South America

Asia/Pac

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Also in a change from our last market survey, four vendors now rank above the "None" responses,

whereas in our 2008 survey, only SolArc and OLF received more ‘votes’ than those respondents who

felt that there is no market leader in the category.

Figure 17 - Crude and Crude Products Trading

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%

Perceived Leadership -Crude and Crude Products Trading

EuropeNorth AmericaSouth AmericaAsia/Pac



Natural Gas Trading While "Do not Know" was the most common response in many other categories, in the "Natural Gas

Trading" category, OpenLink, as in the "Overall Energy Commodities", was the only vendor to place

ahead of the response "Do Not Know". Boosted by North American respondents, it placed well ahead

of its closest rivals, Allegro and Triple Point. Interestingly, Allegro was the most noted as the leader by

the European respondents, gaining more mentions than all the other named vendors combined.

However, it did not fare as well as OpenLink and Triple Point in North America; and in fact, trailed a

total of four companies in that geography. There were few “No Answers” in this category, indicating

its relative maturity as a market place.

Figure 18 - Natural Gas Trading

Power Trading In Electric Power Trading, OpenLink is again perceived as the market leader, tripling the result of their

nearest competitors SunGard, Triple Point and Allegro. And again, much of OpenLink's lead can be

attributed to their commanding position with the North American respondents, as opposed to those in

Europe, who rank the company on par with, or slightly lower than, Triple Point, SunGard and Contigo.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Perceived Leadership -Natural Gas Trading

Europe

North America

South America

Asia/Pac



The results in this category are fairly consistent with previous years, though one of the leading

companies in our earlier surveys in North America, OATI, did not receive a mention in this category in

this latest iteration of the survey.

Figure 19 – Electric Power Trading

Coal Trading Overall, market leadership perceptions in this functional area are much weaker, as "Do Not Know"

responses dominated those of any vendor response. However, among the vendors, SolArc was most

often noted and almost equally by both European and North American respondents. Allegro ranked

second among the vendors, doubling the responses received by Triple Point in the third vendor

position. Interestingly, each of the top three in this category received very similar ranking from North

Americans, whereas SolArc was a clear leader in Europe. Allegro also did well in that geography, while

Triple Point received very few from respondents in Europe. Also of note, OpenLink ranked first in this

category in previous surveys, but was well down the list in this current version.

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%

Perceived Leadership -Electric Power Trading

Europe

North America

South America

Asia/Pac



Figure 20 – Coal Trading

Agricultural Commodities Trading Triple Point, as with previous surveys, was the highest ranked vendor in this category. However in this

survey, their ranking in North America increased while decreasing somewhat in Europe. OpenLink was

the second ranking vendor in all geographies, but was slightly ahead of the competition in Europe. EKA

was the third ranked vendor with support coming equally from North America, Europe, and Asia/Pac.

Allegro was fourth overall and third in the North American market.

Figure 21 – Agricultural Commodity Trading

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Do not know

SolArc Allegro None Triple Point

Contigo OpenLink SunGard

Perceived Leadership -Coal Trading


0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%

Perceived Leadership -Ag Commodity Trading

Europe

North America

South America

Asia/Pac



Metals Trading – Precious and Base In the metals trading categories, the bulk of the responses were "Do Not Know". However, of the

vendors mentioned, Brady was most often cited with about 10% of the respondents in both the

"precious" and "base" categories noting the company as the leader. In the "Precious Metals Trading"

category, Murex also ranked well, with OpenLink and Triple Point close behind.

Figure 22: Precious Metals Trading

In Perceived Leadership in Base Metals Trading, Brady was followed by OpenLink, SunGard, Allegro,

Triple Point and Murex. While all those companies received mentions from North American based

respondents, only Brady and SunGard were noted by the Europeans as leaders in this category. Again

though, given the high levels of "Do not know" and "None" responses, leadership perceptions appear

to be weak in this category.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Do not know

Brady None Murex OpenLink Triple Point

SunGard Allegro

Perceived Leadership -Precious Metals Trading

North America

North America

South America

Asia/Pac



Figure 23 – Base Metals Trading

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Perceived Leadership -Base Metals Trading

Europe

North America

South America

Asia/Pac

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Freight Rates Trading While freight rates have been traded for a number of years, the respondents to our survey indicated a

lack of familiarity, or at least strong views, of the capabilities of the vendors in this space. Only Triple

Point received more than a couple of mentions by respondents.

Figure 24 – Freight Rates Trading

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Do not know

None Triple Point Allegro OpenLink Sungard Amphora

Perceived Leadership -Freight Rates Trading

Europe

North America

South America

Asia/Pac



Shipping Shipping logistics is a relatively new category for CTRM vendors, with many having entered the market

place within the last 5 years or so. Given that relative immaturity of many solutions in this space, it's

not surprising that more than 50% of the responds were "Do Not Know". However, with Triple Point's

acquisition of Softmar, a historical leader in shipping solutions, the company was a clear leader in this

category for those respondents in both North America and Europe that were familiar with the market.

Figure 25 – Shipping

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%

Perceived Leadership -Shipping


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Summary The preceding narrative relies purely on the respondent’s perception of market leadership and in

essence, is a reflection of two characteristics - vendor brand awareness and strength, and maturity of

the market.

This means that even in commodities or functional areas that remain somewhat immature,

respondents might choose a vendor simply based on its overall brand strength as opposed to having

true knowledge and experience with that particular vendor’s actual capabilities.

Table 1 – Leadership Perceptions by Category

Commodity Leading Vendor Second Vendor Third Vendor

Energy Commodities Overall

OpenLink Triple Point Allegro

Electric Power Trading OpenLink SunGard Energy &

Commodities Triple Point

Natural Gas Trading OpenLink Triple Point & Allegro N/A

Crude and Crude Products Trading

SolArc Triple Point Allegro & OpenLink

Coal Trading SolArc Allegro Triple Point

Agricultural Commodities Triple Point OpenLink EKA

Base Metals Brady OpenLink SunGard Energy and

Commodities

Precious Metals Brady Murex OpenLink & Triple Point

Freight Rates Triple Point Allegro, Open Link, SunGard Energy &

Commodities N/A

Shipping Triple Point Allegro, OpenLink &

SolArc N/A



CTRM Technical and Product Attribute Perceptions In addition to reviewing perceptions by commodity trading function, we also sought out market

opinion on two technical categories that are becoming an increasing factor in purchase decisions –

SaaS or Hosted delivery and Overall Technical Architecture.

SaaS or Hosted Delivery SaaS delivered or hosted solutions have been increasingly finding acceptance in the CTRM markets,

particularly in the mid and lower tiers within the last five years or so. Recently though, just within the

last couple of years, we've have seen some larger organizations that have traditionally installed CTRM

products starting to bring onboard SaaS delivered or hosted products to provide relatively quick

coverage to a newly established business unit or commodity function within that larger business.

Within this category, the respondents that noted a vendor cited SunGard's Kiodex product most often

as the leader, with Aspect Enterprise, Allegro and EKA also receiving multiple votes. Again, though,

with high response rates in "Do Not Know" and "None", it appears that market knowledge of SaaS or

Hosted delivery methods is still limited

.

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Figure 26 – SaaS or Hosted Delivery

Overall Architecture The technical underpinning of a CTRM system is a factor in many purchase decisions. A solid data

model with modern technology components provides a platform around which additional capabilities

can be added. As such, buyers seeking a traditionally installed CTRM system will necessarily include

architectural factors as a critical factor in their product vetting process.

Though the responses of "Do Not Know" and "None" were relatively high in this category, Allegro and

OpenLink were clearly cited as leaders approximately five times more often than the next nearest

competitors. Notably, the answer "None" was given more in this category than any other. This is

perhaps due to the very complex nature of CTRM solutions and the inherent difficulty in creating

interfaces to, or extracting data from, those systems.

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

Perceived Leadership -SaaS or Hosted Delivery

Europe

North America

South America

Asia/Pac



Figure 27 – Overall Architecture

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%

Perceived Leadership -Overall Architecture


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Market Perception Trends CommodityPoint/UtiliPoint has conducted a number of similar studies in the past that allow some

historical market perception trends to be analyzed. In particular, UtiliPoint completed perception

studies in North America in 2006 and Europe in 2007 as well as a proprietary market perception study

in 2008. These research projects allow us to compare to the latest data and note trends over this

period.

North America The North American vendor perception study was issued in August 2006 and 47 complete responses

were obtained. The sample set represents a range of types of company/entity including marketers,

IOU’s, Municipal Utilities, Cooperatives, Consultants, Retail Marketers and Hedge Funds but is

weighted more towards electric power as a traded commodity with a high proportion of utility-type

entities included. Note that we have combined market perceptions for companies that acquired others

during the period reflected in the rankings.

The ETRM/CTRM space in 2006 was noted as a maturing market in North America, with a large number

of vendors servicing the market, though many of those were relatively young and the market was not

yet fully informed as to the breadth of offerings available. In fact, in the 2006 research project,

SunGard Energy and Commodities, noted by 25% of the respondents, was the only company to be

cited as the market leader by more than 5% of the respondent group. Fully 58% of the respondents at

that time said there was no real overall market leader.

With the price run-up in commodity prices in 2007 and early 2008, sales of ETRM/CTRM system

increased dramatically as these systems were purchased by new market entrants and existing

companies seeking to improve their transaction and position management capabilities in the face of a

highly volatile market. In light of this new awareness of ETRM/CTRM solutions, the leadership

perceptions changed dramatically during the period. OpenLink emerged as the perceived leader,

though SunGard was also often noted. Triple Point ranked slightly behind the two leaders and was

followed by Allegro and SolArc. Though not shown on the graph, the number of respondents that

indicated they felt there was no market leader has continued to decline significantly from 2006.



Moving forward to the 2011 results, SunGard Energy and Commodities has fallen behind the other 4

large vendors in leadership perceptions. CommodityPoint's view is this decline can be best attributed

to the companies shift in strategy from supporting multiple, sometimes competing products; to having

developed the Aligne strategy which integrates many of those products down to a singular solution.

This new strategy has prompted the company to focus their sales and marketing efforts over the last 2

to 3 years toward their existing clients in order to secure those clients and move them forward to the

Aligne platform. We anticipate that given SunGard's scope and the number of clients using their

products, should they continue to see success in implementing Aligne with those clients, the market's

perception of overall leadership will rebound to some degree.

The other four leading companies at the time of this research, OpenLink, Triple Point, Allegro and

SolArc all noted increased perceptions of leadership in North America, with OpenLink extending their

overall percentage though maintaining a consistent margin over Triple Point from 2009 – 2011.

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Figure 28 - Comparison of Overall Market Leader Perception in North America 2006 -2011

Europe UtiliPoint conducted a first of its kind perception survey of European users of Energy Trading,

Transaction and Risk Management (ETRM) software during November and December, 2006 and

January 2007, with fifty valid responses to the survey instrument being collected. These responses

included a variety of ETRM users and consulting firms (those that recommend solutions to their clients)

across the broader European Union. This 2007 sample has been combined with similar global effort in

2009 and this current analysis to look at the trend in leadership perception for the European

ETRM/CTRM markets.

Four of the vendors that received notes as the overall leader in 2007 and 2009 (Ventyx, Murex,

Amphora/TradeCapture and SolArc) did not receive any such acknowledgment in 2011. As such, the

top 5 perceived leaders in Europe for 2011 were OpenLink, Triple Point, Allegro and Navita (which was

recently acquired by Brady). Of that leadership group, OLF was most often noted as the overall leader,

receiving notice from 32% of the respondents and significantly increasing their lead over the other in

the field during that period 2009 to 2011. Triple Point also saw solid gains in leadership perception as

did Allegro. Similar to North America, SunGard saw a decline which can be attributed to the factors

previously discussed.

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

OpenLink Triple Point Allegro Solarc SunGard Energy &

Commodities incl. Kiodex

Others

North America Overall Leadership 2006 - 2011

2006

2009

2011



Figure 29 - Market Leadership Perception Comparison 2007 and 2009

Overall Comparison with 2008 Proprietary Survey In the summer of 2008, UtiliPoint conducted a proprietary perception survey receiving 67 valid

responses; 50 from North America and 11 from Europe and the remainder from the rest of the world.

A comparison is also useful with the results of that survey in terms of the various respondents' views of

overall market leadership for the largest ETRM/CTRM vendors over the period from 2008 to 2011

(Figure 30).

The results for four of the top five vendors, OpenLink, Triple Point, Allegro and SolArc were fairly

consistent from 2009 to 2011, with a slight decrease noted for OpenLink and a corresponding increase

for Allegro and SolArc combined. The one significant difference from 2009 to 2011 was noted by

SunGard Energy and Commodities (combined for this comparison with their Kiodex product) where

market perceptions of leadership declined by almost 15%. Again as previously discussed,

CommodityPoint feels this drop can generally be ascribed to the company's sales and marketing efforts

being directed toward efforts to convert their clients from the company's legacy products to their new

Aligne solution.

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

Europe Overall Leadership 2007 - 2011

2007

2009

2011



Figure 30 - Overall Market Leader Perceptions Comparison

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

OpenLink Triple Point SunGard Energy and

Commodities (including

Kiodex)

Allegro Solarc Other

All Regions - Perceived Overall Leadership 2008-2011

2008

2009

2011

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Purchase Plans and Buying Criteria A component of vendor perception is to establish the rate of turnover among the participants. The

survey asked the respondents (consultants have been eliminated from this analysis) about their

purchase plans over the next 24-months (Figure 31). Overall, 20% indicated that they anticipated

procuring a new solution during that period, with 11% indicating a purchase within the next 12

months. In Europe as many respondents expect to procure new software as those that did not

(excluding those that did not know). In North America, about half as many respondents indicated they

were currently in the market for a new system as compared to those that said they were not

anticipating a purchase in the near future.

Figure 31 - Purchase Plans in Next 24-Months

These numbers do align with the results when asked how long it's been since the last system

procurement; with more than 60% indicating they had purchased a new system within the last 3 years

(Figure 32).

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

Yes - Next 12 Months

Yes - Next 12-24 Months

No Don’t Know

Purchase Plans by Region

Europe

North America

South America

Asia/Pac



Figure 32 - Last System Purchase Date

For all respondents, regardless of procurement plans, we asked their views of the importance of the

method of deployment for newly purchased systems (Figure 33). Not surprisingly, having a service

oriented architecture, one that facilitates improved integration and data throughput, was perceived to

be of fairly high importance with 60% noting it as "Critical" or "Important" when making a purchase

decision. An additional 25% ranked SOA as being "Somewhat Important".

Figure 33 - Deployment Preferences

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

In the Last 12 Months

Between 12 -36 Months

Between 36 -60 Months

More than 60 Months

Don’t Know

Time Since Last Procurement by Region

North America

Europe

South America

Asia/Pac

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Ability to Deploy on a Hosted or SaaS Basis

Service Oriented Architecture

Preferred Deployment Method

Critical

Important

Somewhat Important

Minor Factor

Not Important



Deployment via the internet, either as a hosted system or a full SaaS solution was noted by only 20% or

our respondents as being either "Critical" or "Important", with less than 50% noting web delivery as

having any importance.

Though web delivered software is finding growing acceptance in the CTRM market place, that

acceptance is not yet widespread and results from deal activity indicates that the mid and low tiers of

the market are the most likely to embrace such solutions due to their lower initial costs and generally

quicker implementation times.

Required Commodity Coverage Given the general profile of our respondent group, it is perhaps not surprising that when asked about

the importance of a new system providing coverage for various classes of commodities, support for

energy commodities ranked the highest of the group which also included Ags/Softs and Metals (Figure

34). In fact, about 88% of our respondents noted that energy commodity coverage was at least

"somewhat important", with 58% indicating such coverage was "critical"; an additional 20% indicated it

was "important".

"Agricultural/Softs Commodities" and "Metals" support were similarly ranked although ags/softs

support was noted as being somewhat more critical when procuring a new system.

Figure 34 – Required Commodity Coverage

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Metals Support

Agriculture/Softs Commodity Support

Energy Commodity Support

Required Commodity Support

Critical

Important

Somewhat Important

Minor Factor

Not Important



Ranking Functional Requirements and Attributes In this research of market perceptions, we also wanted to examine what functional attributes are of

most importance to buyers looking for a new CTRM system.

We asked our survey participants to provide score various functional capabilities of CTRM products on

a scale that ranged from "Not Important" to "Critical". The tested capabilities included:

• Product Support for Physical Commodities

• Product Support for Financial Commodities

• Product Support for Comprehensive Market and Price Risk Management

• Support for Physical Commodity Logistics

• Support for Managing Transactions in Multiple Currencies

• Support for Comprehensive Credit Risk Management

The results show that for our respondent group, the ability to capture and manage physical commodity

transactions was the most critical attribute they would consider when seeking a new solution. In fact,

95% of the respondents indicated that physical commodity support was either "Critical" or "Important"

in that decision process, with the "Critical" ranking making up over 75% of that mark. Financial

commodity transaction management ranked second with a "Critical" ranking of 70% and combined

"Critical" or "Important" ranking of slightly less than 90%. Risk management, both market and price

risk, had a "Critical" ranking of slightly more than 55%, and a combined "Critical" and "Important"

ranking of around 90%. Multi-commodity capabilities and physical logistics support were ranked very

similarly, with multi-commodity being ranked slightly higher in terms of "Critical" rankings, but lower in

terms of a combined score including "Critical", "Important", and "Somewhat Important".

Multi-Currency and Comprehensive Credit Risk support ranked somewhat lower than the others in

term of criticality, both nonetheless received an 80%+ rankings that included some level of importance.



Figure 35 - Functional Criteria and Attributes

Again, as many of our respondents were representative of the "traditional" segments of the CTRM

industry (i.e. utilities and merchant businesses), the ability to support both physical and financial

products is clearly of importance. At first glance, it may be surprising that comprehensive credit risk

support is ranked last of the tested attributes; however, given the availability and acceptance of "stand

alone" credit risk solutions, our respondents may feel that capability can be well managed outside of

the core CTRM and is therefore a less critical capability for these types of solutions.

What Vendor Attributes are most important? We also wanted to examine our respondent group's views as to what they deem to be the most

important vendor attributes – those factors outside of features/functionality of the product itself. We

asked them to rank from "Not Important" to "Critical" four vendor attributes commonly considered

when procuring a new CTRM/ETRM system:

1. The provision of quality product support from the vendor

2. Competitive Pricing

0% 50% 100%

Comprehensive Credit Risk Support

Multi-Currency Capabilities

Physical Logistics Support

Multi-Commodity Capabilities

Comprehensive Market/Price Risk Support

Financial Commodity Support

Physical Commodity Support

Functional Attributes

Critical

Important

Somewhat Important

Minor Factor

Not Important



3. The market positioning of the vendor – Are they a "Top" vendor?

4. The availability of quality consulting resources for the product

As can be seen by the results shown in Figure 36, quality vendor supplied support services is

considered to be the most important vendor criteria with almost 70% of our respondents indicating it

as "Critical" with the remaining responses saying "Important".

Figure 36 - Vendor Criteria

The availability of quality consulting resources and competitive pricing were essentially equally ranked,

with 90%+ of the respondents indicating those as being at least "Somewhat Important" and within that

ranking, more than 40% ranked each as "Critical". A vendor's status as a "Top Vendor" was deemed to

be critical by slightly less 20% of the respondents and "Important" by about 40%. This result does

indicate a willingness by many market participants to examine all potential solutions; though it does

also indicate a market advantage for the larger established vendors.

While price is clearly an important factor, market participants view quality support as being more

important; an attribute for which they may potentially be willing to pay a higher price.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Supplied by a "Top Vendor"

Available at a Competitive Price

Quality Consulting Support Available

Quality Support Available from the Vendor

Vendor Attributes

Critical

Important

Somewhat Important

Minor Factor

Not Important



About CommodityPoint CommodityPoint is the industry leader in providing Commodity Trading & Risk Management (CTRM) research, analysis and advisory services. Our services bring insight into business issues, trends, processes and technology, to utilities, energy companies, banks, brokers, funds, investors and vendors that enhance their competitive position and support critical business decisions around the wholesale commodity trading markets. Our team provides expert analysis of market trends and, in particular, the technologies and applications supporting those that participate in regional or global commodity markets.

With offices in Europe and the US, and backed by an experienced research team, our organization provides an unparalleled view of the marketplace. CommodityPoint is a division of leading energy and utilities analyst and consulting firm, UtiliPoint International, Inc.

Other Resources The CTRM Blog – http://www.ctrmblog.com CommodityPoint – http://www.CommodityPoint.com TRM Products and Services Online Directory – http://www.trmdirectory.com

Other CommodityPoint Reports CommodityPoint research reports are available at http://www.Commodity-Point.com For Additional Information regarding this report or any CommodityPoint product or service, please contact Patrick Reames at [email protected] or Mark Tredway at [email protected]. CommodityPoint Locations The Americas 19901 Southwest Freeway, Suite 121 Sugar Land, Texas 77479 USA Phone: 281-207-5440 Europe & Asia/Pacific International Business Center Prikop 4 602 00 Brno Czech Republic Tel: +42 0 533 433 658

UtiliPoint International is a wholly owned

subsidiary of Midas Medici Group Holdings, Inc.

(OTCBB:MMED).

http://www.ctrmblog.com/

http://www.utilipoint.com/

http://www.trmdirectory.com/

http://www.commodity-point.com/

mailto:[email protected]




About the Report Author Patrick Reames Managing Director, CommodityPoint

Mr. Reames has more than 30 years of energy industry experience. He has a deep understanding, developed through hands-on experience and managerial oversight, of upstream and midstream oil and gas operations including exploration, production, gathering, gas plant operations and pipeline operations. Additionally, he has 5 years of energy commodity trading, transportation, and risk management experience with Hess Corp. (formally known as Amerada Hess), a Fortune 100 integrated energy marketing company. Over the last twelve years, he has been focused primarily on information technology serving energy trading, marketing, and risk management. Prior to joining UtiliPoint, Patrick served as an executive for several technology companies (including TransEnergy Management, Altra Energy, and TradeWell systems) providing products and services to gas and power marketing organizations. In these roles, his focus was on the creation and delivery of high value service products designed to ensure the successful implementation and on-going use of technology solutions. Patrick is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events. He has published numerous articles in industry publications and contributes regularly to the UtiliPoint's IssueAlert and CommodityPoint's CommodityAlert series. Patrick is the primary author of the CTRMblog.com website and is the co-author and editor of the books “Selecting and Implementing Energy Trading, Transaction and Risk Management Software – A Primer” and "Trends in Energy Trading, Transaction and Risk Management, 2009-2010". Patrick holds a B.S. in Business Administration – Finance from Oklahoma State University.



Study Sponsors

CommodityPoint™ appreciates the financial support of those companies that sponsored and supported this research project, enabling us to provide this report at no cost to its readers.



ASPECT Enterprise www.aspectenterprise.com / [email protected] The World’s #1 Cloud-Computing Multi-Commodity Trading, Risk & Market Data Enterprise. One Platform. One Password. Free Trials & Affordable Monthly Subscriptions.

Aspect Enterprise Solutions is the world’s leading multi-commodity market data, trading, risk and physical operations management enterprise fully delivered Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) in the Cloud. Our rich functionality, competitive advantages and Web-based benefits are proven winners used by more than 500 organizations and thousands of users in over 90 countries across the globe. We also offer hosted trading and risk solutions on client premises with a range of local installation options. The advantages of Web-based solutions are unrivaled by traditional software, especially in a world where budgets are tighter and total-cost-of-ownership and ROI are critical. Web-based means you have instant access to the full range of functionality from your Web browser. There are no long costly installations or expensive servers and databases to buy and support. Rapid deployment is provided by Aspect out of the box, with customized configurations depending on the complexity of your requirements. Our solutions scale from single users to thousands at multiple locations across global businesses, all backed up with professional support and disaster recovery built into the solution. No longer is a professional solution out of reach for smaller companies. Your capital can now be invested into the business, and not tied up in expensive, risky implementation projects with traditional vendors. Our powerful commodity trading, risk and operations management solution, AspectCTRM, is used by a wide range of companies from small trading, supply and end user organizations to the world’s largest global enterprises. AspectCTRM is flexible and scales to the functional and budget needs of its users. It begins with the out-of-the-box, front-office Lite Edition (LE) designed for small firms, and expands to its Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition (EE) with front, middle and back office functions with integration to other systems such as SAP and Oracle Financials. As companies grow and requirements become more complex, AspectCTRM easily expands to meet those demands without the costs and hassles associated with software installations and replacements.

AspectDSC is our Decision Support Center for traders with portals for Oil, Metals & Agriculture delivering real-time and historical news, spot and futures prices, and analytical charting tools on desktop and mobile devices including Apple iPhone, iPad and BlackBerry. Leading sources include Platts, Dow Jones, NYMEX, ICE, London Metal Exchange, Marine Bunker Exchange and more.

AspectPM is our Price Manager solution which provides consolidation and support for the global oil price forecasting process and forward curve management.

All Aspect solutions are accessible via the same online password providing seamless, user-friendly collaboration for global teams from one platform. Aspect clients produce, refine, market, ship and trade globally and rely on our expertise in these key physical and financial markets: Oil, Metals, Steel, Coal, Marine Fuels, Biofuels, Freight, Natural Gas, Emissions and Agriculture/Softs. The Only CTRM/ETRM System That Delivers Real-Time P&L And Cash Flow Reports Monitor the value of marked-to-market, cash positions and profits and losses simultaneously with market fluctuations and as deals are entered and updated. This empowering capability is surprisingly still out of reach for many companies using older technology or spreadsheets.



Fast Action Closing Reports Never again start your trading day without an accurate view of your positions. Many companies spend the overnight hours running systems to roll up data for morning access. Produce fast-action intraday and closing reports in seconds. No other system can do this.

Real-Time, Accessible, Collaborative Solutions The importance of capturing and managing trades and monitoring positions in a professional, collaborative system is no different. It’s vital for success. Aspect delivers a collaborative enterprise that helps you achieve dramatic improvements in business processes by integrating customers, suppliers, and employees. Collaborative enterprises use real-time, in-sync, standardized information to improve coordination of planning, decisions and actions to increase trade performance and profitability and reduce costs and risks to your business.

• Trading and marketing professionals gain the tools needed to take advantage of opportunities from real-time, actionable data.

• Operations professionals are prepared with knowledge of the transaction status and history of the customer, sales and contractual information, fulfillment history, credit history, contact information.

• Management is able to effectively manage processes and staff due to visibility of workflow status, becoming more accountable to expectations by corporate.

Smart, Flexible, Component Applications Aspect’s technology is flexible and solutions are developed as components allowing companies to incrementally integrate solutions as problems arise, add new functionality as needed, and maintain investments in current systems.

The Trade, Risk, Physical Operations and Financial Operations components of AspectCTRM create a powerful solution for today’s commodity traders, risk managers, operations staff and back-office personnel. Its components are deployed individually and as an integrated group to provide the solution you need tailored to meet your specific needs for all physical and financial trading operations and risk management. AspectCTRM is also delivered on the same platform as AspectDSC, the market data and analytics center, creating an integrated, single platform approach unlike any other vendor solution on the market.

Join Us For Intelligent Trade In The Cloud



Brady

Head Office 281Cambridge Science Park Milton Road Cambridge CB4 0WE Tel: +44(0)1223 479 479 Fax: +44(0)1223 472 510 Email: [email protected] London Office 60 Cannon Street London EC4N 6NP Tel: +44(0)20 7002 1613 Fax: +44(0)20 7002 1100 Nearest Tube Station: Cannon Street or Mansion House Brady also has offices in Amsterdam, Bergen, Edinburgh, Geneva, Halden, New York, Oslo, Paris, Philadelphia, Singapore and Toronto.

________________________________ To prosper in today‘s increasingly complex marketplace, physical trading companies and financial institutions rely on specialist solutions and sophisticated analysis to maintain a competitive edge in the global commodity markets. The latest generation of Brady‘s market leading solutions provides integrated trading, risk and settlement systems. With comprehensive audit, compliance and regulatory functions, businesses can now combine sophisticated management techniques with highly efficient throughput to drive down costs. The straight-through processing capability of an open service oriented architecture which facilitates ease of integration into the clients environment, thus enabling an enterprise to quickly achieve a lower cost per trade and provides a proven foundation for effective risk management and a streamlined, efficient business process.

Brady is the largest European-headquartered provider of trading and risk management solutions for the energy and commodities industries and is a well-funded public company, backed by leading institutional investors. With 25 years’ experience of developing leading technology, Brady is now used by over 250 companies on 5 continents, including some of the largest trading companies, financial institutions, producers, mining corporations, energy generators and hedge funds in the world. By working closely with our clients in the metals & minerals, energy & softs markets we continue to lead the way in trade capture and risk management, increasing productivity and operational & regulatory efficiencies in a changing landscape.

The global commodities markets are becoming more volatile and complicated; growing regulatory, legal and corporate governance requirements are adding even more pressure. Brady‘s transaction and risk management applications are designed to help our clients manage all their commodity transactions in a single integrated solution – including pre-deal analysis, trade capture, foreign exchange, market and credit risk, logistics, cash management, physical operations, back office financials, settlement, freight, regulatory reporting and more.



A fundamental market driver in recent times has been the significant increase in electronic trading - across all asset classes. Increased market volumes, volatile markets and continuing pressure on market-makers to offer complete & competitive services to clients have seen a dramatic increase in the availability of both order- and execution-management systems across the industry.

Brady’s Trading and Risk Management solutions are designed to offer highly efficient and optimised system and trade processing and risk reporting: from the on-boarding of new clients; through exchange connectivity for transaction processing and post-execution processes such as confirmations and client statements; to advanced real-time risk analysis and monitors across exchange-traded and OTC contracts.

Technical innovation is very much at the fore-front of Brady’s latest generation of solution offerings, utilising the very latest Microsoft standards, such as Silverlight and C#, and service-based architectures to offer new levels of scalability and performance to its solutions in order to enhance the user experience and increase data performance

Brady is a proven market leader and provides solutions for all sizes of operation. Whether the requirement is for hundreds of users across the entire process – from point of production to end-user – or for just a few users who are targeting one aspect of the supply chain, we have a solution. Brady's products can be fully integrated with 3rd party systems and applications, whether internal or external.

The goals are the same for everyone – to be competitive, profitable, fast, manage risk, streamline operations, and meet regulatory requirements.

For further information visit: www.bradyplc.com

http://www.bradyplc.com/



capSpire capSpire, a CTRM Consultancy with a Different Approach

Envision a new order in CTRM consulting. Gone are the days of over staffed projects that exceed budgetary estimates and run twice as long as planned. Nor should any client settle for a second rate consulting team that lacks the training and expertise to accomplish the objectives of the client. On the other hand, imagine a team of consultants that always consider the client’s interests first, that is constantly searching for the “best way”, not just the status quo approach to solutions due to a lack of creativity. What if there was a consultancy that made it standard practice to think “outside the box”, rather than rely on the same solutions to the many complex problems faced in this industry. Fortunately, you don’t have to imagine anymore, you simply contact the true new order consultancy in the CTRM space, capSpire.

Formed in 2009, capSpire was fashioned to challenge the status quo. The founders did not form a company with profit as the main goal, rather they take an approach that profit is the result of putting clients interests first. Tremendous value is built into each and every job for which capSpire is the lead consultancy. To be specific, one of the primary keys to our success is we analyze the client’s needs and then assemble the right team. In fact, over the last three years the recruiting efforts at capSpire have focused on bringing strategically needed skill sets with each and every addition to the team. capSpire leadership realized quickly that it is impossible to market a single individual consultant as an expert in all areas of any CTRM system. Such front to back experts do not exist and anyone claiming otherwise is overstating their abilities. Furthermore, as previously mentioned capSpire does not bloat projects just to fill seats at a client thereby gouging budgets with an inexperienced group incapable of meeting the client’s needs. On the contrary, capSpire begins with a complete functional analysis and then will staff projects with the right group of our consultants best able to manage the client’s stated deliverables. The result is projects that run on time and on budget, a rare but welcome outcome in the CTRM consulting world. With capSpire, the key end feature is value in our offerings far beyond what any other consultancy could even hope to offer, yet capSpire accomplishes this day in and day out.

With our diverse and well-trained team of experts we are skilled across a wide variety of disciplines including, but not limited to:

• Project Management

• Risk and P & L Management

• Credit Management

• Accounting, Taxes and Monthly Closings

• Cross-system Interfaces

• Inventory Valuation

• Physical Scheduling

• Trade Capture and Contract Administration

• Hedging

• Technical Architecture and Development



As for our range of expertise, it runs the gamut from Crude, Refined Products, Gas, NGL, Coal, Ethanol, Asphalt and the Grains, among others. We have a history of dozens of implementations, including vendor selection, project management, functional leads and technical developers. In addition, we provide consulting for business processes such as volume and cash forecasting, P & L management, credit, risk, inventory, and VaR, just to name a few. We also provide support for multiple CTRM clients on an ongoing basis for critical path issues, functional analysis, business process refinement and technical development.

With capSpire, the bottom-line is you hire a team with:

• Deep and broad expertise that is unrivaled in the industry

• A unique, non-bloating philosophy of fairness that results in unsurpassed value for our clients

• Complete dedication to CTRM consulting and only CTRM consulting

• A pool of talent available for our client’s benefit that is the best in the industry from top to bottom

Contact us at: [email protected]




iRely

iRely, LLC is a leading provider of intuitive, innovative, and affordable enterprise software solutions for the commodities markets. From origin to trading to manufacturing to distribution, iRely is transforming the way its customers do business. iRely products leverage the latest technology and fuse it with user-friendly flexibility. Never before have businesses had such powerful tools that allow them to glean more insight and apply more creative methods to reduce risk, increase revenues, and realize efficiencies.

Commodities Served by iRely

• Coffee

• Sugar

• Cocoa

• Spices

• Cotton

• Grains

• Edible Oils

• Dairy

• Petroleum

iRelyAdvantages Comprehensive – A growing trend in commodities is that many processors are reaching back into the supply chain to ensure supplies, and many originators and traders are moving into processing where they perceive the margins to be higher. But how do these entities manage these new activities in a tightly coordinated manner with their traditional business? iRely fills this gap by providing solutions at every level of the supply chain including a general financials package. With iRely, efficiencies are gleaned from elimination of double entry work and increased oversight due to centralization of data.

Intuitive – iRely allows companies to leverage the benefits of automation sooner through its intuitive, user-friendly interface. Organizations are able to get up and running more quickly with less extensive and expensive training programs; spend less time training and more time using. This eliminates office frustrations about software usability that often pollute the work environment. Instead, these organizations are able to provide their highly-valued talent with tools they both want and need to live up to their potential.

Customer Centric – iRely prides itself on being a company that values its customers, their time, and their input. The result is a product that addresses the actual needs of its users. Switching vendors can be costly and time consuming. Therefore, it’s important for organizations to align themselves with vendors, such as iRely, who are poised to meet their needs both now and in the future. IRely is privately owned and held. They are debt free and have no exit plan. They will be your partner for years and years to come.

Innovative – iRely is committed to bringing its customers new features and technology on a regular basis. This innovation breeds efficiencies that save money. By focusing on innovation, iRely has become known as the ideal long-term business partner. Its customers are confident that iRely will continue to provide the technology they need to continually improve the way they operate their businesses. Additionally, this has given those organizations the tools they need to be innovative in the way they interact with their vendors and customers.



Key Industries Served by iRely

Trading & Risk Management - iRely combines both the physical supply chain and hedging aspects of commodity businesses into a single, integrated solution. Real time reporting enables iRely customers to manage operational and financial risk to ensure superior customer service while managing the market risks inherent in the business. Always know your exposure not only to the physical markets, but to the futures markets as well considering physical exposure, futures position, and other derivative instruments on a delta-equivalent basis. Run mark to market daily to avoid end of month profitability surprises.

Process Manufacturing – iRely provides process manufacturers the flexibility, efficiency, quality control, and traceability that is critical in today’s world. iRely offers a flexible core called “Process Modeling Engine” which can be easily configured to model the material flow in a plant. This core is designed to improve inventory tracking and traceability, withoutrequiring heavy customization during implementation.This makes the software highly responsive to any changes made to the production line. Automate the flow of information from office to plant floor and back. View the status of production runs in real time (with green/yellow/red alerts) which link directly to customer orders. Know where every lot of raw material was used and shipped to, and know the components by lot of every finished goods item produced.

Agri-Business – iRely agri-business solutions automate organizations that cater to the farming industry. Grain merchandisers, feed manufacturers, agronomists, seed dealers, rural retail establishments, convenience stores, fuel distributors, and cooperatives around the world use iRely to centralize their A/R, improve inventory tracking, and increase their customer service offerings.

Petroleum Distribution – iRely addresses the needs of petroleum distributors from direct delivery to onsite fueling, from cardlock to lubricants and everything in between. iRely’s software solutions incorporate all the aspects of managing accounts receivables, inventory, taxes, pricing, and contracts. iRely also offers an innovative in-truck billing application that allows metered fuel distributors to invoice customers directly from the truck.

Documents

2012 E/CTRM Vendor Perception Study