The new company has secured office premises in New York and will commence operations with immediate effect.

"We already have a number of investment banking clients in the US as a result of contracts with their European offices, as well as some local hedge fund managers," says Greg Johnson, sales and marketing director of Xenomorph. "We feel that we now need to focus more directly on this market, which is after all the biggest financial market in the world."

Xenomorph is excited about the opportunities offered by the New York derivatives market for its enterprise-wide solutions, particularly its TimeScape real-time database for tick-by-tick and time series data capture and analysis.

Comments Mr. Johnson: "We have excellent products for this market. London is very strong in over the counter (OTC) derivatives, while the US market trades in simpler products but in much higher volumes. Banks want to store every
single price and analyse every aspect. Hence, the importance of real-time tick data to them. Our products need very little by way of "Americanisation", although we will be working with local market experts to integrate US data feeds."

The company is serious about its commitment to New York. Its office will initially be managed by three Xenomorph "heavyweights", in the form of Naj Alavi, current head of sales; Stuart Mason, current head of support in London; and one of the founders of the company, Mark Woodgate, who will oversee the consulting and technical side.

Says Mr. Woodgate: "The feedback from our US clients is that we should be in New York and that we will do very well there. Of course, it also makes it easier for us to work with the UK operations of American banks."