OpenGamma, a UK-based financial analytics start-up, has come out of stealth mode and is looking for banks and buy-side institutions to join an early adopter programme to fine tune the source code which will be released under an Open Source license.
The company has been set up by Kirk Wylie - a former head of software architecture for the front office technology division of KBC Financial Products - and Smartspread alumni Elaine McLeod and Jim Moores, with Series A funding from Accel Partners.
OpenGamma's objective is to create a shared service infrastructure and applications platform that financial services firms can use to create smarter event-driven risk management and analytics systems.
In a blog on the company Web site, Wylie says the platform will be available under a "commercially-friendly" Open Source license "because that's what customers have told us they want".
He continues: "They want to be able to debug all their integration points; they want to be able to step through the code; they want to know exactly what's changed in each release to an individual file level; they want to have confidence in the quality of what's under the hood; they want to be able to download and play with the code without a sales person getting involved; they want the confidence that there will be an ecosystem that develops around the core platform that adds to the value of the technology beyond what a single vendor can produce."
The final feature set is to be developed in association with a number of trading houses under an early adopter programme, says Wylie. Early adopters will help influence the development roadmap and be supported by OpenGamma engineers as they commence their own projects. "Ongoing, significant discounts on normal commercial terms for proprietary component licensing and platform support," will also be available.