B2BITS launches a replacement program for FIX, FIXML, and FAST enabled software

Newtown, PA — June 23, 2010 — B2BITS, EPAM Systems’ Capital Markets Competency Center providing technology for FIX connectivity, announces the launch of a program to support the large base of commercial, in-house developed, and open source FIX solution users who are seeking to improve their operational capacity and lower costs by upgrading their existing Java, .NET and C++ based connectivity tools to modern solutions.

The technology driving FIX trading is rapidly evolving together with the markets demand for efficiency as well as the FIX protocol. The last five years in the market have been characterized by a dramatic increase in acceptance of FIX protocol by exchanges worldwide. This evolution also applies to the increased adoption of FAST for distributing market data. More often market participants, especially the early adopters of the FIX protocol, realize the need to upgrade their FIX connectivity solutions through re-development or acquisition. The major factors that drive the decisions can be:

• Limited functionality of legacy FIX based systems compared to the new, more rich solutions available on the market
• Performance related factors such as latency and throughput to support high frequency trading
• New hardware capabilities utilized by modern FIX engines to improve performance and save costs
• Need for interacting with new middleware to expand compatibility
• Need  for using the latest versions of the protocol to meet counterparty requirements
• Lower cost of acquisition and total cost of ownership of new products available on the market
• Licensing models making system expansion cost prohibitive
• Increased number of connections under management and inadequate operational tools
• The new FIX engines come bundled with a full set of tools

Concurrently the following aspects prevent organizations from switching to newer software:

• Tight integration of the old software with existing systems
• High cost of re-integration work
• Legal bindings and terms of the existing licensing agreements

B2BITS works closely with the companies seeking to upgrade their FIX connectivity solutions helping develop strategy for managing FIX, FIXML, and FAST enabled software. The replacement program for Java, .NET and C++ based FIX engines is designed to satisfy the evolving needs of commercial , in-house developed, and open source FIX solution users. B2BITS helps address the challenges of re-engineering the FIX connectivity layer by providing a complete set of services.

For commercial software users we offer:

• Assessment of the current state and elaboration of the rationale and actionable recommendations
• In case of a change necessity, B2BITS will prepare a detailed plan for product acquisition and integration work scope
• Proof of Concept for porting from a vendor solution or in-house system to FIX Antenna
• To clients holding unexpired licenses, a free license until the expiration of the existing  licenses, regardless of the number of engines*
• Integration works from the low-cost development centers in Eastern Europe

For users of in-house developed solutions:

• Assessment of the current state and elaboration of the rationale and actionable recommendations
• In case of a change necessity, B2BITS will prepare a detailed plan for product acquisition and integration work scope
• Proof of Concept for porting from a vendor solution or in-house system to FIX Antenna
• As an incentive for the change, B2BITS provides a free 3-month license regardless of the number of engines
• Integration works from the low-cost development centers in Eastern Europe

For open source FIX solution users:

• Assessment of the current state and elaboration of the rationale and actionable recommendations
• A 1-month evaluation license to demonstrate B2BITS’ FIX engine solution performance, which significantly exceeds that of the open source solutions
• As an incentive for the change, B2BITS provides a free 3-month license regardless of the number of engines
• Integration work is provided from the low-cost development centers in Eastern Europe, if required

Thanks to FIX Antenna’s superior efficiency, the FIX services, which are usually provided by multiple servers, now can be run on a single server instance, thus bringing extra technical and economical advantage to the users.

If your organization considers changes or enhancement in the FIX connectivity layer, please contact us at sales@b2bits.com.

*The expiration time should not exceed 1 year.

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Barclays Capital to build global technology facility in Kyiv to create Ukraine’s largest and most secure technology centre

June 11, 2010 — Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC, announced today it has chosen Kyiv as the location for its third global technology centre, adding to those already established in Singapore and Prague. EPAM Systems, the largest and most experience software engineering services provider in Eastern Europe, has been selected as the partner to build and operate Ukraine’s most advanced and secure IT facility, with a team of up to 500 IT professionals in Kyiv by the end of 2012. 

Ukraine was chosen because of the exceptional local technical talent and strong analytical skills available. This investment in Kyiv allows Barclays Capital to further diversify its workforce locations and the firm will grow globally by 800 IT professionals in 2010 with continued growth anticipated over the coming years.

“Kyiv is a key strategic centre within our technology growth plans going forward. Utilising the most advanced hardware, software tools and security infrastructure available, the Kyiv centre will be at the leading edge of global competitiveness for quality and for innovation. We are exceedingly impressed with the 50 plus engineers that have already started,” said Sarah Grave, Head of IT EMEA, Prague and Kyiv at Barclays Capital.

The teams will focus on Application Development for in-house projects in C++, Java or C# for a wide range of business applications across the bank, ranging from electronic trading applications to risk management systems. The Kyiv facility has been built by EPAM to operate within the bank’s highly secure continuous service environment, providing 24/7 services to maintain business applications and provide support to the firm’s business users for many mission critical applications.

Barclays Capital and EPAM are investing in Kyiv for the long term, with the technology centre not only providing excellent working conditions, but very clear long-term career paths for the team members in development, management, operation and support of the software developed. Team members will be supported in their professional growth through high quality financial services training in London, Singapore and Johannesburg.

“The Kyiv centre will provide the essential front-line services necessary for the operation of Barclays Capital’s global banking business,” said Karl Robb, President EPAM Europe. “This reflects our client’s strong faith in Ukrainian IT talent and in EPAM Systems proven track record of establishing large software engineering teams operating in highly secure environments to the world’s top technology firms and financial institutions.”

Through EPAM, Barclays Capital will make an initial capital investment of more than US$2 million in the highest standard of technology infrastructure from Hewlett Packard, Cisco and Microsoft among others, creating the most secure and state-of-the-art facility in the Ukraine, within EPAM’s premises. The very latest workstation and network equipment will be deployed along with power equipment providing business continuity to operate 24/7.

Notes for Editors

For further information please contact:

Alena Busko, EPAM Systems Marketing +1-267-759-9000, ext. 50474 alena_busko@epam.com

Jon Laycock, Barclays Capital Communications +44 207 773 4324 jon.laycock@barcap.com

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EPAM Receives Preferred Supplier Status from Bosch Group

Newtown, PA — June 10, 2010 — EPAM Systems, Inc., the leading software engineering and IT Outsourcing (ITO) provider in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), announced today that it has been selected as a Preferred Supplier of the Bosch Group, an award in recognition and appreciation of EPAM’s outstanding performance in custom software development and application support during the last 3 years.

EPAM has been a development partner to the Bosch Group since 2007, successfully delivering several critical software development projects, the latest achievement being a custom Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) system that replaced multiple legacy applications underpinning the business dealings with tens of thousands of global suppliers and also provides sophisticated SRM specific BI features to Bosch’s executive leadership. The solution was developed and is continually enhanced and supported by EPAM’s engineering teams led by business analysts and engagement management from EPAM Germany, together with engineering teams in Belarus and Russia that provide a balance of domain and process knowledge with technology and quality management skills.

“Any client award or recognition is an honor for the whole staff of EPAM. In this case, given the well-known, stringent levels of excellence and quality that the Bosch Group demands globally in all forms of engineering including software, our teams should be exceedingly proud to be recognized in the upper echelons of Bosch's supplier eco-system with this Preferred Supplier status,” commented Karl Robb, President EU Operations, EVP EPAM Group. “EPAM’s unmatched technology skills, extensive domain knowledge and excellence in distributed delivery of complex software solutions has resulted in a robust, flexible, high throughout, high-availability application that provides our client with significant process optimization and a competitive business edge.”

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