Excellence in CTRM Software

Winner: OpenLink Financial

Trading, investing, and managing assets and liabilities in today’s complex commodity sectors requires sophisticated, robust, adaptable and scaleable technology. This Award is granted to the Commodity Trading & Risk Management (CTRM) specialist which has made a unique and substantial impact on commodity market trading efficiency and effectiveness – in the quality of trade execution, risk management and reporting.

“Commodity trading, transaction and risk management as a practice is complex – very complex – and for a variety of reasons. Traders and managers in this industry can (and many do) transact in multiple commodities, multiple markets, multiple instruments, multiple assets, multiple currencies, and utilise multiple transportation methods. They make their buying and selling decisions by constantly tracking and analysing price trends, price correlations, supply/demand imbalances, physical system constraints, weather forecasts, and a plethora of other factors, both internal and external to the company,” explains Dr. Gary Vasey, principal analyst with CommodityPoint, and member of the Awards Panel charged with choosing the winner of the Award for Excellence in CTRM Software. The Award winner for 2010 is OpenLink Financial, Inc. (OpenLink).

OpenLink has been a leading innovator in the CTRM space for many years. Building on a strong risk management foundation, OpenLink’s flagship Endur commodities engine (for front- through back-office solution for trading, risk management and operational needs in various commodity markets) has expanded the ability of businesses to manage financial and physical trading, logistics, risk, and back office activities in an integrated way. With pioneering solutions for grid, pipeline and bulk scheduling, as well as extensive capability to model risk simulations for physical scenarios using energy scenario management, OpenLink has continued to provide businesses with leading edge CTRM tools.

OpenLink’s solutions provide support for operations from ‘source to sink’ for numerous commodity categories including coal, crude oil, refined products, gas, NGL, LNG, Emissions and Power. With the addition of dbc’s SMARTSoft to its product portfolio, (following the acquisition earlier this year) comprehensive support for agriculture and soft commodities is now possible. OpenLink also offers integrated optimization support through IRM’s iOPT for analysis and decision-making support. [IRM is an OpenLink company focused on structured procurement management, optimization, and investment analysis and planning].

Furthermore, OpenLink’s global reach enables clients in diverse geographic regions to maximize their business across their enterprise. With more than 300 customers worldwide, OpenLink’s 850 employees and numerous service partners provide the cutting-edge CTRM solutions required in today’s highly complex commodity markets. The voters and Awards Panel were highly impressed with OpenLink in this extremely competitive commodity business category, making them this year’s deserved recipient of the Award for Excellence in CTRM Software.

The Award for Excellence in CTRM Software 2010 was presented to Tony Frangiamore, Director of Sales and Relationship Management with OpenLink by Gyles Brandreth, celebrated British author, broadcaster, actor and former Conservative Member of Parliament.