----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        The Florida SunFlash
        Sun Equips New French Interest Rate Trading Room
   
SunFLASH Vol 27 #7					          March 1991 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

      "Dual-Headed" SPARCstations Help Firm Compete in New
             European Unified Interest Rates Market


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. --March 11, 1991-- Sun Microsystems today
announced that it has won a $4 million contract with Caisse des Depots
& Consignations (CDC), a major banking and financial organization
headquartered in Paris.  Sun has equipped CDC's interest rate trading
room with 30 SPARC(R)-based servers and 67 SPARCstation(TM) 1+
workstations running Teknekron Software Systems' trading software,
which integrates market data and realtime trading applications on the
desktop. CDC is the first French financial institution to base its
trading system entirely on digital technology, with no video back-up
(financial market data was previously available only in video, or "read
only" format).

CDC views its new global trading system as a key competitive advantage
in anticipation of the unified European interest rates market in 1992.
The Sun and Teknekron solution uses a client-server architecture, with
"client" workstations connected to servers that store financial market
information and run analytics.  Each trader is using a SPARCstation 1+
equipped with dual 19-inch monitors.  A primary reason for choosing Sun
was the SPARCstation 1+'s ability to support two color monitors from a
single workstation.  This enables a trader to work within several
windows on one monitor, while viewing important financial information
that is continually being updated in windows on the second monitor.
Sun's windowing environment lets traders simultaneously access
information from multiple sources and display this data in color charts
and graphs.  Price changes can be color-coded, making it easy for
traders to spot when a change occurs.

The workstation's networking capabilities allow the interest rate
trading floor to be integrated with other trading related information
systems including the back office (where historical database,
settlement, position limit and accounting information resides), the
middle office (realtime risk management and control, assets and
liabilities management) and the other front office desks in the bank
(spot currency trading room, mutual funds, trust and fiduciary
services).  The reliability of the system is maintained through an
automatic and dynamic back-up procedure structured around double
Ethernet connections to each Sun workstation.

The combination of the entire SPARC/UNIX(R)/OPEN LOOK(R)/ONC(TM)
technologies and the trader workstation system developed by Teknekron
has allowed previously independent workgroups at CDC to form highly
competent work teams to provide global services to customers with
complicated needs.  According to Helene Ploix, managing director at
CDC, "The implementation of this newly integrated tool proves CDC's
intentions to intervene globally and efficiently on the new unified
interest rate market."

SITB, the local distributor for Teknekron throughout Europe, designed
and installed the new system.

Caisse des Depots & Consignations is a decentralized, government-held
company providing services from retail banking to trading activities.
Its interest rate trading operation represents over $600 million (U.S.)
in assets on the French market.

PR contact: Cindee Mock (415) 336-3563
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
For information send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM.
Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM.
Archives are on solar.nova.edu and paris.cs.miami.edu.

All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third
party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local
Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in
your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications
within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or
publication by Sun Microsystems.

John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.