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In The News
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May, 2006
Software House of the Year
Energy Risk magazine recently announced OpenLink as this year’s ‘Software House of the Year’. Coleman Fung, OpenLink’s founder and CEO discusses OpenLink’s new products, existing product enhancements and future plans.
A $100 million investment from TA Associates says as much about this year’s choice for Energy Software House of the Year as the company’s fast growing customer base of top-tier investment banks, blue chip energy firms, energy hedge funds and fledgling traders such as corporates trading new European emissions markets.
TA Associates took a $100 million stake in OpenLink in February this year, retaining Coleman Fung as its CEO and largest individual shareholder.
On a personal level, Fung says he wants to diversify his own portfolio and establish a private foundation. He is working with his alma mater, the University of California, Berkeley, to establish a risk management research centre there. A major theme of the research, Fung says, will be environmentally sustainable development in India and China.
At OpenLink it’s business as usual, insists Fung. “There will be no management changes or job cuts. Our clients can rest assured there will be absolutely no change or disruption in product, R&D or service,” he says.
OpenLink’s 2005 investment in broad and niche energy markets won it continued deep respect from the market. Its Active Position Manager module, used in conjunction with its flagship product Endur, puts the ‘trading’ back into ETRM, offering traders fully customisable real-time trading position pages. “Traders are clamouring for it,” says Fung.
Fung acknowledges it is a fully trader-centric product, offering users immediate results from hypothetical price changes they may enter. “It mimics stuff they already have” he says, “and they can slice and dice the data any way they want.”
OpenLink’s strong investment in its products has been noted by the Energy Risk judges. “At a high level, we still spend more [than our competitors] on product development,” claims Fung. One such development is a new version of gas scheduling software gMotion, now offering hourly gas trading capabilities for European gas traders.
“This is a fast-changing market: it’s a sophisticated customer base,” says Fung. “Our European gas customers have been pushing the envelope in integrating their trading and scheduling groups – much more so than their North American counterparts. “For our competitors, [this behaviour] would require a new product. For us, it’s just a new version of gMotion. We have the underlying risk capabilities behind it.” says Fung.
OpenLink is also rolling out cMotion, a scheduling module for oil markets. It will be aimed at integrated crude refineries, petrochemical supply organisations, integrated energy firms, and trading firms or banks.
“Energy trading companies were able to get away with less effective software systems a few years ago because market volumes were lower,” says Fung. “Today’s higher trading volumes and heightened commodity prices mean companies can no longer afford to have inefficiencies.”
For attracting new players to energy markets, perhaps the most exciting development has been the introduction of OpenLink OnDemand. The company now offers its products as an application service provider (ASP) to groups such as energy hedge funds and corporates in the European emissions trading market.
“Guys without access to a huge infrastructure can sign up. There is no installation or investment and they are ready to go,” says Fung. “Thanks to ASP technology, those customers have access to exactly the same tools employed by OpenLink’s Wall Street customers.”
OpenLink’s Emissions Trading Model is a perfect example of the OnDemand service. Designed for corporates, the model seamlessly integrates front-, middle- and back-office functionality for the whole life-cycle of European emissions allowances.
“With no installation, corporates can immediately track their CO2 certificate allowances, inventory, reporting and risk management,” says Fung. “Emissions is a very exciting market, I’m glad we can be a part of that market by offering this service,” he says.
Copyright © 2006 Incisive Financial Publishing.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
First published in Energy Risk - May 2006
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