First Derivatives plc (LON:FDP), a major provider of trading technology, has just announced the formation of FD Labs, its new R&D arm based in Ottawa, Canada.
The mission of the new R&D center, which will be collaborating with FD’s global product teams, is to identify, innovate and develop new software product opportunities in key emerging areas like SaaS analytics, Fast Data visualisation and the Internet of Things. It will also focus on embedded software, programming languages, Cloud/SaaS environments, User Experience and IDE technology, machine learning and predictive analytics.
In another move to enhance FD’s innovations agenda, the company announced that Dave Thomas and Dr. Brian Barry are both joining its team. Mr Thomas will become FD’s Chief Scientist, with his key responsibilities being new product strategy, technology outreach and evangelism. Dr. Barry will become Head, FD Labs with responsibility to manage and grow the Labs.
Dave Thomas commented:
“The power and elegance of kdb+ has been understood for many years in the world of high performance finance. FD now has a unique opportunity to lead the way and expand the reach of kdb+ into exciting new markets such as the Internet of Things, Cyber Security, Visual Analytics and Pharma.”
Brian Conlon, Chief Executive Officer of FD, commented: “Industry dynamics are moving in our favour as enterprises embrace streaming analytics, which plays to the strengths of kdb+. We are excited to have two of the IT industry’s most respected pioneers on our team helping us advance the development of the world’s leading structured database with a feature-rich enterprise platform that makes the technology straightforward to develop and manage.”
To view the official filing with the LSE, click here.