Nasdaq, SSI division to form joint venture company

BANGALORE: The Nasdaq Stock Market has tied up with SSI Technologies (SSIT),
a division of Chennai-based SSI Ltd. to form a joint venture company. The new
company, IndigoMarkets, will create Internet-based trading and market systems
for Nasdaq global markets including Nasdaq-Europe and Nasdaq-Japan– the new
markets being set up to provide European and Japanese investors with enhanced
opportunities to invest in the world’s preeminent stocks and initial public
offerings (IPOs), said a release here. IndigoMarkets will also sell its products
to other customers worldwide.

The IndigoMarkets product line will provide a state-of-the-art electronic
securities market based on proven Nasdaq market structures. Market facilities
will include both order-driven and quote-driven structures as well as access to
external services such as third market trading. IndigoMarkets will provide these
services using the latest distributed and Internet technologies available from
several strategic partners including Compaq, Microsoft, Cisco Systems,
MCIWorldCom, and others. The new product line will also leverage existing SSIT
technology currently in use in several Asian stock markets.

More than 1,800 technical and functional specifications are under development
for the deployment of Nasdaq-Japan and testing is expected to begin in the third
quarter of 2000, the release added.

"This partnership draws together the brand, technology, and market
knowledge of Nasdaq and the execution, engineering, and brokerage skills of SSIT
to create a unique new company called IndigoMarkets. No other firm is as well
positioned to deliver on the Internet trading era," said Gregor S. Bailar,
Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of the National
Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), the parent company of The Nasdaq Stock
Market.

Commented John Hilley, Chairman and CEO, Nasdaq International, Ltd. "Our
new joint venture with SSIT represents another important step in our strategy of
building on our position as the world’s leading global stock market. It
underlines our determination that the new Nasdaq-Europe and Nasdaq-Japan markets
will be based on the very best state-of-the-art technology. Nasdaq-Japan will be
first, but Nasdaq-Europe will be using the same technology and will follow
shortly. This will create the first major legs of Nasdaq’s global trading
network."

"SSIT is excited to work with Nasdaq to deliver a best-of-breed
electronic securities market. The opportunity to pool our resources to support
Nasdaq’s global needs and to offer these solutions to other world-class
clientele is truly powerful. The Nasdaq—SSIT relationship is poised for
significant expansion and growth because it leverages on the core competencies
of each partner–Nasdaq creating a new market environment and SSIT providing
the state-of-the-art Internet trading solution," said Kalpathi Suresh,
Chairman, SSI Ltd.

SSIT’s securities practice specializes in mission critical on-line
transaction processing in the areas of stock exchange automation and Internet
trading. Their product TESA–The Electronic Securities Architecture–is a
world class stock exchange automation system. The system supports various
services including trading, exchange and broker support, clearing and
settlement, and on-line risk management. SecuraTrade is an on-line Internet
trading system that provides complete trading facilities to investors over the
net. It enables brokerage houses and stock exchanges to quickly and easily
install powerful web-based trading sites on the Internet to service their
investors.

SSIT will set-up an Off-Shore Development Centre (ODC) in Chennai, India, as
a Strategic Business Unit to support the requirements of IndigoMarkets. This ODC
will be the off-shore partner for IndigoMarkets and will actively support the
development and implementation of solutions for customers worldwide.