An emergency response demo that was a real train wreck

Standards body meetings aren’t usually all that exciting, but last week’s National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) Training Event and OASIS Emergency Management Interop was an exception. The centerpiece of the Interop was a demo designed to show how NIEM, Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) and Emergency Data Exchange Language (EDXL) standards could help a dozen government agencies share information and coordinate activities in a set of simulated emergency situations. The three scenarios were a train crash/chemical spill, a tornado warning, and an Amber Alert. Not your typical dry standards body fare!
Read more

High frequency trading spotted drinking Cristal in the VIP room

High frequency trading (HFT) is the media’s new “it girl”, and is generating attention everywhere she goes.

First Forbes magazine did a cover story on The New Masters of Wall Street, highlighting the hedge funds, prop traders and big banks that are turning HFT into big business.

Then Traders Magazine did a related story about how the exchanges are responding in their Race to Zero Latency. Clearly the obsession with execution latency is being driven by the need to keep up with these ultra-fast consumers of liquidity.

And you know HFT is nearing its hype peak because last week the Daily Show did a special report on the subject.

Unlike Paris Hilton though, HFT is not making money because it is hot, it is hot because it is making money. Generating buckets of profits is one thing that never goes out of style.