Business continuity is a hot topic at the moment, as industry bodies are encouraging market participants to consider how they could continue trading in the event of external threats to business operations such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks, a health pandemic or even the mundane but more likely occurrence of a plumbing failure causing a data center flood.

In the event of a disruption, trading organizations need to get traders back to work quickly. To work effectively away from the trading floor, traders need much more than just email and teleconferences. They need access to news, market data and all other communication channels and functionality that they are accustomed to on their turrets. There are a number of different approaches:

• Dedicated alternative trading facilities;
• Distributed architecture that enables traders to move easily and 'hot-desk' between operational sites; and
• True remote access to the organization's trading functionality from any location.

One of the best ways to increase flexibility is to implement technology that enables virtual trading. Productivity is improved as traders are capable of working away from the trading floor by accessing information globally from either the web, IP phones, or wireless devices such as a phone or Blackberry.

Virtual trading technology, that incorporates turret-like functionality on other devices, can also provide cost-effective, on-site access for support staff that may not justify the expense of a full turret, but who still need to share calls with the trading environment. This can include the back office, research and other support functionality. Sharing trader voice access in this way can improve communications across all team members on the STP chain.

Firms can benefit by making the transition to a virtual trading organization (VTO) - moving from site-centric, proprietary voice solutions to open, standards-based, distributed solutions with converged voice, video and data functionality, applications and appliances. Calamos Investments, one of North America's fastest growing asset managers, has recently adopted cutting-edge trading technology to enable virtual trading. In addition to introducing IP-enabled multimedia trading devices on the trading floor that can integrate voice, video, instant messaging and email to suit business demands, it has also rolled out a browser-based turret with the same familiar interface.

Trading organizations investigating remote access technologies are demanding certain features to ensure it fits within their established best practices and IT infrastructure. For example, firms insist that any remote device being used to access private wires and direct inward dialing (DID) has to connect to the voice recording facility for compliance purposes.

With such technology being increasingly used by innovative organizations, the adoption of the virtual trading vision is the prime topic of conversation for financial organizations as part of BCP discussions. Scotia Capital, a Canadian-based provider of global investment banking and capital markets services, is another example of an organization that is ahead of the curve. It deployed remote virtual trading technology specifically in response to the SARs outbreak, which hit Toronto in 2003. As a result, 100 traders at Scotia Capital are now able to work from home or any other remote location with Internet access.

Coming up with business continuity plans that address all these threats is challenging for trading organizations and firms should work with outside technology firms to best address the issues. Firms need not jump in head first, they can respond to the challenges with a hybrid approach which will allow them to migrate gradually, and interoperate with their existing PBX and TDM voice networks while also ensuring that they are ready to benefit from a fully converged IP environment at the time of their choosing. Calamos and Scotia Capital have shown that with a virtual trading infrastructure, these challenges can be more easily overcome.

Peter Skoglund is director of product management and systems engineering for BT Trading Systems, 212-462-8405; email: peter.skoglund@bt.com. For more information please visit: www.bt.com\tradingsystems.