ntercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data, and IPC Systems, a leading provider of trading communications solutions, today announced plans to launch ICE Voice, a cloud-based audio solution that will be offered with ICE Chat to provide a seamless communications platform for traders and other market participants.
ICE Voice will bring together ICE Chat’s extensive network of over 120,000 active users and IPC’s Connexus Unigy private cloud platform to provide always on, persistent open connections between individuals or groups of traders across internal trading desks and with any other ICE Chat user signed up for the service. Users will be able to instantly jump from chat to voice and open calls from chat tabs and group chat rooms, and create Voice Blasts to ‘shout out’ to groups of open connections simultaneously. ICE Voice will also support full audio recording with configurable retention, anywhere, anytime playback of archived calls, and integrated chat and voice logs to create a single record of communications, aiding in trading desk or firm-wide compliance programs.
“For the first time, ICE’s users will have a single, integrated platform for chat and voice that matches both traders’ need for always-on, instantaneous connectivity with other traders, and firms’ desire for easy-to-access and use records that help them meet their record retention requirements,” said Maurisa Baumann, Head of Desktops and Feeds at ICE. “ICE Voice builds on our instant messaging service, which has become one of the largest networks in the financial industry, and utilizes IPC’s voice network for providing cloud-based audio connectivity with a single click.”
“IPC’s collaboration with ICE to develop ICE Voice brings our industry leading Connexus Unigy cloud technology together with the ICE Chat network to create a single, seamless and powerful solution for traders,” said Tim Carmody, Chief Technology Officer, IPC Systems. “This solution reinforces both IPC and ICE’s focus on continuous innovation in trading communications and connectivity, and enhancing the experience of the global trading community through greater integration and interoperability between chat, voice and electronic platforms, applications and workflows.”
ICE Voice will be seamlessly integrated into the ICE Chat platform, providing an efficient workflow for financial professionals to connect and interact as effortlessly as possible. It will combine voice connectivity with functionality that was designed specifically to match the custom needs of traders, including ICE Chat’s AI-powered Smart Text Recognition functionality, which turns texts into actionable data using APIs, and Message Blaster for sending single messages to multiple contacts.
IPC’s Trading Communications Systems support the global voice trading community through a comprehensive suite of leading-edge communications technologies and tools, underpinned by the proprietary and award-winning cloud-based Connexus Unigy platform. Trading Communications solutions include Service-as-a-Software offerings (Connexus), on-premise and mobile trading communications products and compliance and surveillance solutions, including its most recent solution, OneView Portfolio, which launched at the end of 2023.