Terminal at high speed for european stock exchange users

A prototype Secure stock trading protocol and security proxy software have been implemented, tested and verified over Ethernet and ATM networks in Paris and Brussels Stock exchanges' development. The software enables users to connect to Paris and Brussels Stock Exchanges for trading and information access. It will also provide a secure trading over any underlying network such as the Internet and Intranet; over wired and wireless communication links. The THESEUS security system is implemented in software and consists of three parts: A. Security protocol between the broker terminal and security proxy server (which acts on behalf of a stock exchange) B Security services integrated into the broker's terminal. These services include information encryption and digital signatures for data integrity and authentication. C. Security proxy server software can be installed on the stock exchange premises as part of the stock exchange's front-end communication system. The THESEUS security system is robust, easy to implement and flexible enough to introduce security quickly when it is needed. Existing trading protocols and communication front-ends do not need any modification. In fact, the security system is transparent to these protocols. The THESEUS security system is resilient to intruder attacks such message modifications, denial of service, impersonation and replay of old messages

To mask the peculiarities of each Stock Exchange format, a common trading protocol (the THESEUS protocol) has been defined. This protocol allows each trader to use the same "client" PC (independently of the broker country). The conversion between the THESEUS protocol and a specific Stock Exchange protocol is accomplished in the broker server (the number of conversion modules is equal to the number of Stock Exchanges with which the broker has to trade). The THESEUS protocol is divided into two layers, each layer concentrating on providing a particular function: the administrative and the business layers. The administrative layer mainly manages client / server sessions. It performs the "administrative" services of the THESEUS protocol, such as message sequencing, session establishment, etc. These services include: session establishment and dissolution message sequencing security services. The business layer treats the business content of the THESEUS messages. The function of this layer is to provide the client trading application with a comprehensive flow of data. For flexibility and possible evolution purposes, the THESEUS protocol is built from a tagging approach. The tagging approach, borrowed from object-oriented technology, allows information within a message to identify itself without applying an external structure to an otherwise arbitrary byte stream. This allows for: More flexibility in implementation Differences between exchange trading rules and information Optional and mandatory data Future growth: this is also another by-product of using field tags. As new trading functionality is introduced, the additional new information is added to the THESEUS protocol by adding a new tag. Since the algorithm for unrecognised tags is to ignore the tag, staggered implementation schedules become possible. If tags were not used as design principles, upgrades of the protocol would typically require client and server affected to implement the upgrade simultaneously

The THESEUS project (Terminal at High speed for European Stock Exchange Users) has focused on the development of a terminal which could become a key component of a high speed financial network system, able to meet the telecommunication requirements of a unified European capital market. By a set of trials, THESEUS has built and has validated the main components of an innovating ATM based experimental system, fulfilling the requirements of a pan-European Stock Exchange network. In order to establish an ATM link between Stock Exchanges and remote users, it is necessary to have at one's disposal a dedicated terminal supporting the trading applications and providing ATM access, and to adapt the front-ends of the existing Stock Exchange processing systems to the ATM protocols. The software design is based on the following principles: client / server oriented, running with Windows NT 4.0 object modelling oriented WinSock 2 API used as network interface. The current state of the art in the stock trading technology is the use of UNIX or NT based client server applications with graphical interfaces, which is the case of the THESEUS terminal. From the user point of view, the terminal is characterised by a multi-windowing Graphical User Interface, permitting the use of a unique application for trades with any European Stock Exchange. The prototypes developed in the frame of THESEUS exist in two versions: The basic version, which implements: all the interactive functions that are necessary to process buying and selling orders all the consultation functions that exploit the real-time market feed disseminated by Stock Exchanges gateway functions. The multimedia version implements, in addition, videoconferencing services, named Price Display application, which: enables a trader to negotiate directly with his counterpart enables to restore the floor atmosphere which has been lost with the arrival of electronic trading systems (this service can also be defined as a virtual outcry service). The Price Display application implements: - a software which enables a broker to propose stock prices associated to his identity an integrated service managing real-time videoconferencing services between two brokers or between a broker and a surveillance PC.

SUMMARY The DYNAMO project developed and applied enhanced regional biogeochemical modelling approaches so that European scale impacts of acidic deposition, land use and global change could be determined without compromising process level understanding of ecosystem function. Results of this project provide a robust assessment of anthropogenic impacts on the environment and can be used to inform the decision-making process with regards to the development of sustainable European environment policy. RESULTS Project results contain spatially explicit (i.e. mapped) information of the potential impact of anthropogenic deposition, land use and global change on terrestrial and aquatic environments. They highlight areas at risk in both a regional and European context. The use of dynamic models allows for the determination of temporal changes and mapped time series predictions are presented in both the special issue of Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (Vol. 2, No. 4), and the project web-site at www.mluri.sari.ac.uk/dynamo.htm

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