winter 2007 issue triple point to the point · cockpit ’tm. arcim ... llc. “triple point’s...

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Winter 2007 Issue Alliant Energy – a Fortune 1,000 power and natural gas utility serving 1 million electric and over 400,000 natural gas customers in the Midwest, selected Commodity XL TM for Power and Gas along with Power Scheduling ‘Visual Cockpit’ TM . ARCIM Advisors, LLC – a hedge fund based in Greenwich, CT, chose Commodity XL for Oil, Power, Gas and Softs. Building on the momentum of recent wins at Old Lane, Lehman Brothers, and other major financial institutions, ARCIM’s selection proves Triple Point is the premier commodity trading solution for financial organizations, both large and small. “We required a system that could handle multi-commodity trading, provided real-time analytics and risk reporting to keep us ahead of the market, and could grow with us,” said Harry Arora, principal, ARCIM Advisors, LLC. “Triple Point’s product is the best—it has a clear edge over other offerings in the market.” Bunge Global Markets a worldwide agribusiness leader in the food supply chain that stretches from grain origination to the production of value-added food products for the retail market, selected Commodity XL for Oil and Gas. “Bunge Global Markets is a rapidly growing division of Bunge Limited. We were looking for a trading and risk management solution that could be deployed quickly but also has the capability of growing with us in the future,” said Tom Leslie, applications development manager, Bunge Global Markets. “We found that Triple Point’s Commodity XL has the best functionality available in the marketplace. In addition, the advanced standards-based architecture combined with Triple Point’s hosted ASP (Application Service Provider) platform makes it the perfect solution.“ New Clients Select Triple Point page 1 From Peter Armstrong, President & CEO Triple Point Technology page 2 Commodity XL In the Spotlight page 2 Commodity XL Xchange page 3 Communicating with Clients Houston and New York Showcases page 4 Communicating with Clients Triple Point Webinar Series page 5 Triple Point/SAP Partnership page 5 Major Industry Journals Cover Triple Point’s Solutions page 6 Triple Point has Another Award Winning Year in 2006 page 8 About Triple Point Technology page 8 ALSO INSIDE THIS ISSUE Continued Page 6 NEW CLIENTS SELECT TRIPLE POINT First Annual New York City Trading, Risk Management and Scheduling Solutions Showcase A Tremendous Success Triple Point TO THE POINT

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Page 1: Winter 2007 Issue Triple Point To The PoinT · Cockpit ’TM. ARCIM ... LLC. “Triple Point’s product is the best—it ... It eliminates all re-keying and frees traders to focus

Winter 2007 Issue

Alliant Energy – a Fortune 1,000 power and natural gas utility serving 1 million electric and over 400,000 natural gas customers in the Midwest, selected Commodity XLTM for Power and Gas along with Power Scheduling ‘Visual Cockpit’TM.

ARCIM Advisors, LLC – a hedge fund based in Greenwich, CT, chose Commodity XL for Oil, Power, Gas and Softs. Building on the momentum of recent wins at Old Lane, Lehman Brothers, and other major financial institutions, ARCIM’s selection proves Triple Point is the premier commodity trading solution for financial organizations, both large and small.

“We required a system that could handle multi-commodity trading, provided real-time analytics and risk reporting to keep us ahead of the market, and could grow with us,” said Harry Arora, principal, ARCIM Advisors, LLC. “Triple Point’s product is the best—it has a clear edge over other offerings in the market.”

Bunge Global Markets – a worldwide agribusiness leader in the food supply chain that stretches from grain origination to the production of value-added food products for the retail market, selected Commodity XL for Oil and Gas.

“Bunge Global Markets is a rapidly growing division of Bunge Limited. We were looking for a trading and risk management solution that could be deployed quickly but also has the capability of growing with us in the future,” said Tom Leslie, applications development manager, Bunge Global Markets. “We found that Triple Point’s Commodity XL has the best functionality available in the marketplace. In addition, the advanced standards-based architecture combined with Triple Point’s hosted ASP (Application Service Provider) platform makes it the perfect solution.“

New Clients Select Triple Point page 1

From Peter Armstrong, President & CEO Triple Point Technology page 2

Commodity XL In the Spotlight page 2

Commodity XL Xchange page 3

Communicating with Clients Houston and New York Showcases page 4

Communicating with Clients Triple Point Webinar Series page 5

Triple Point/SAP Partnership page 5

Major Industry Journals Cover Triple Point’s Solutions page 6

Triple Point has Another Award Winning Year in 2006 page 8

About Triple Point Technology page 8

Also InsIde ThIs Issue

Continued Page 6

new ClIenTs seleCT TrIple poInT First Annual New York City Trading, Risk Management and Scheduling

Solutions ShowcaseA Tremendous Success

Triple Point To The PoinT

Page 2: Winter 2007 Issue Triple Point To The PoinT · Cockpit ’TM. ARCIM ... LLC. “Triple Point’s product is the best—it ... It eliminates all re-keying and frees traders to focus

Several years ago Triple Point e m b a r k e d on a strategy of creating a mult i-c o m m o d i t y platform that would support the unique attributes of each asset

class while providing efficiencies across the back office and enabling aggregated enterprise-wide risk management. Commodity XL™ has been commercially available for a few years and I’m thrilled to report that in 2006 customers confirmed the strategy with their overwhelming selection of the solution relative to competitive products. Commodity XL had tremendous success across all commodities including natural gas, power and oil. In addition, financial institutions, which have some of the most demanding functional and technical requirements, spanning all commodities, repeatedly chose the Triple Point solution.

Dominating the Physical Gas Market

Commodity XL for Gas™ with Gas Scheduling ‘Visual Cockpit’™ dominated the physical natural gas market in 2006, being selected by clients such as Glencore, Kerr-McGee, Sumitomo, UBS, HydroWingas and Lehman Brothers. ‘Visual Cockpit’ is the only physical gas scheduling module to provide a comprehensive view of the natural gas business and contain all the functionality required to efficiently schedule gas.

Emerging as Leader in Power

We have extended our reach in the utilities market by adding Alliant Energy to our customer base that

Continued Page 4

Commodity XLTM , Triple Point’s flagship solution, is the only commodity trading and risk management system that works across multiple commodities, in real-time, from front-to-back office. It is an integrated solution that profitably manages the complex, ever-changing requirements of physical and financial markets.

Commodity XL is a real-time system that helps customers of all sizes gain business intelligence for better decision making, streamline trade processing, reduce transaction costs, maximize supply chain efficiencies, precisely measure and manage market risk, evaluate performance, and ensure regulatory and accounting compliance. It was built specifically for high volume, complex transaction management organizations. Commodity XL utilizes a component architecture that provides what you need today with the ability to plug-in additional functional components in the future to grow and adapt with your business.

Multiple Commodities, GloballyCommodity XL delivers unique functionality

for each commodity you trade including oil, metals, power, natural gas, coal, freight and softs. Each module has been specifically designed to fully support the particular requirements of that asset class. Commodity XL encompasses global and regional requirements to support your entire enterprise.

Operational and Management BenefitsCommodity XL delivers business

intelligence for better decision making, streamlines operations, and provides reporting and audit trails for compliance and control, allowing you to turn day-to-day operations into better business results.

Business IntelligenceReporting – with Commodity XL every

screen is a report showing information in real-time. Sort, filter and group all data according to the needs of each business area. Drill down or across to the lowest level of detail or roll up to view data in aggregation.

Analysis – Commodity XL provides real-time analysis models at multiple points in the

From Peter F. Armstrong, President and CEO, Triple Point Technology

In the Spotlight

As featured in :

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Page 3: Winter 2007 Issue Triple Point To The PoinT · Cockpit ’TM. ARCIM ... LLC. “Triple Point’s product is the best—it ... It eliminates all re-keying and frees traders to focus

life cycle of a transaction, including P&L attribution, margin analysis, VaR and “what if” scenarios. It also has seamless import/export integration with Excel for additional analysis.

Streamlined OperationsWith straight-through processing, your

organization eliminates data re-entry and resulting errors. In addition, delays in data reaching each person in the transaction chain are eliminated resulting in faster decision making in markets where every second counts. The reduction in data errors coupled with integrated processing results in lower transaction costs.

Compliance and ControlCommodity XL provides one version of

the “numbers” across divisions, products and geographies. All documents are stored automatically for audit purposes and all reports required by regulations are generated. Every change to the system is captured and documented for a detailed audit trail to ensure accountability for SOX, FAS 133, IAS 39, and S&P risk.

Integrated Real-Time Transaction Management

Commodity XL is designed to deliver all the required functionality and support every role throughout the life cycle of both physical and financial commodity transactions. From executive to trader to risk manager to scheduler to accountant, Commodity XL provides the right information, presented in the proper format and delivers the results you require.

Next-Generation Platform The Commodity XL solution suite is

built on the most advanced platform in use today. It is standards based and enables you to plug-in the solutions you need now with the flexibility to easily add functions later. The Commodity XL platform seamlessly integrates with your overall IT environment and does not require complicated or non-standard maintenance.

The Right Solution TodayThe market environment is one of

high commodity prices combined with sharp volatility and it is here to stay for the foreseeable future. Triple Point’s Commodity XL provides the software solution to operate and win in these demanding business times. n

Value-at-Risk is one of the many comprehensive risk management tools in the Commodity XL solution.

Marketplace Integration Module

“You are at a competitive disadvantage without straight-through processing.”—Gary M. Vasey, Ph.D., Vice President, UtiliPoint International

True End-to-End Commodity TradingTriple Point’s Xchange™ integration module provides real-time, straight-through processing from exchange trade entry to all functions including risk management, scheduling and the back-office. It eliminates all re-keying and frees traders to focus on the market. The integration module provides full audit trails, error checking and disaster recovery.

Next Generation ArchitectureXchange is built upon the Commodity XL™ standards based component architecture and is completely scalable. It is currently operational in very large transaction environments.

Key Featuresn Real-time, straight-through processing from exchange entry to back-officen Full audit trail of all trade changesn Error notification via email with smart routingn Control checks for previously executed and loaded tradesn Complete scalabilityn Automatic population of full trade details in Commodity XL

Key Benefitsn Ensure traders, risk managers, schedulers and back-office all have the same up to the

second informationn Eliminate re-keying and accompanying costsn Reduce checkout/reconciliation requirementsn Remove chance of duplicate trades n Improve error resolution with smart routingn Enhance compliance and control

More Productive TradingTraders spend more time analyzing the market and less time handling paperwork. Re-keying of trades into multiple systems is eliminated and checkout requirements are reduced. Overall trade performance is improved.

Available Adaptersn ICEn NYMEX

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Communicating With Clients

U.S. Product Showcases Both Informative and Hands-On

Houston Showcase Well Received By All Who Attended

In June of 2006 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Houston, Triple Point held it’s Trading, Risk Management and Scheduling Solutions Showcase designed to deliver the tools companies need to win in

today’s competitive commodity trading arena. It covered the complex and volatile marketplace, the stringent government regulations, as well as global competition. The solution—implementing the right trading, risk management and scheduling solutions can put your company at a competitive advantage.

It was co-located with Triple Point’s America’s Users Conference. Sessions included an overview of new developments at Triple Point and presentations from industry experts on market trends. Following this, users had the opportunity to select separate workshops where they learned about specific tools and functionality within the application.

New York City Showcase Success

Triple Point brought its solutions showcase to Manhattan in October of 2006, “Trading, Risk Management and Scheduling Showcase. Are Your Systems a Solution or a Problem?”

The morning started off with an extremely

informative keynote by energy industry thought leader Peter Fusaro, author of 8 energy related books including the New York Times best-seller, What Went Wrong at Enron. He spoke at length about the energy markets and available solutions to help attendees understand how an advanced system can improve their business and make the difference between winning and losing.

Following this, attendees were able to see hands-on demonstrations of physical power scheduling or gas scheduling with Triple Point’s ‘Visual Cockpit’TM software modules. Attendees discussed key features and had questions answered by Triple Point experts. It was an event not to be missed.

Look for announcements on future events on our Website at www.tpt.com/events.asp.

Peter Fusaro Chairman & Founder Global Change Associates

includes Cinergy, Duke, GUVNL and Westar. Commodity XL is the only true end-to-end solution to manage the volatility and complex nature of trading and scheduling power, as can be attested to by the growing list of clients.

Continued Success at Financial Institutions

Commodity XL continued to be the first choice for financial institutions in 2006. Building on previous selections at UBS and Lehman Brothers and our long standing relationship with Morgan Stanley, we recently added another premier investment bank (to be announced) to our list of blue chip clients. We now count seven top financial institutions as clients.

Commodity XL 6.0 Triple Point invests over 25% of

revenue in research and development each year to ensure continued product leadership. Our customers have come to expect the best technology and functionality in the market from Triple Point and the recently released Commodity XL 6.0 has far exceeded all expectations. In independent lab testing Commodity XL 6.0, already the best performing solution in the market, measured a 5X improvement in performance in addition to having over 300 new functional items.

Conclusion Commodity XL has proven to

be the best solution in the market and delivers unparalleled value to customers. I hope you find the feature article on Commodity XL along with the accompanying excerpts from other published articles informative. n

From Peter F. Armstrong, President and CEO, Triple Point Technology(Continued from page 2)

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The conference was a great opportunity to network with other

Triple Point customers and to review Triple Point’s future plans and direction for the XL products. Kevin Roush Manager Application Systems Information Technology Westar Energy, Inc.

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TrIple poInT/sAp pArTnershIp

Triple Point kicked off a schedule of informative Webinars in 2006. Starting in February and ending in October, a variety of timely, informative topics were presented.

February 2006 kicked off the series with “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Regulatory Matters,” featuring industry expert Gary M. Vasey, Ph.D., vice president, Europe, UtiliPoint International and Triple Point experts.

New regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and FAS 133 necessitate increased emphasis on credit and risk management procedures. Many companies are now reviewing their current practices and contols.

This informative session concentrated on the requirements of current regulations and presented solutions and systems for efficiently running a business in this environment. Attendees gained a practical understanding of each regulation, key problems, potential consequences for non-compliance and real-world solutions.

Topics discussed in depth included Sarbanes-Oxley, FAS133, S&P risk and the various costs of non-compliance.

March 2006 continued the series with “Risk Management is the Key to Success: Assess, Manage and Mitigate Better than Competitors,” which again featured Gary M. Vasey, Ph.D., UtiliPoint International and Triple Point’s Michael Schwartz, chief marketing officer.

Risk is a part of almost every single business segment: price, supply, liquidity, credit, regulatory and operations.

At the heart of risk management is the need for real-time information and transparency across all business departments. For most companies this is more like a dream than a reality.

Companies need to implement a solution that assesses, manages and mitigates risk. Enterprise risk management is a process that identifies, quantifies and controls the risks it faces across the enterprise within an established risk tolerance—the solution that doesn’t have to be a dream.

“An ETRM System is the Key to Trading & Risk Management” was presented in April by guest speaker Josh Gray, Ph.D., vice

president, FEA and Ted Kainer, sales engineer, Triple Point.

Energy volatility, global increase in demand and stringent regulations have created the need for implementing better business practices.

To thrive in today’s fast-paced commodity markets, companies need access to real-time information on an

integrated ETRM platform that eliminates data silos, facilitates risk management across departments and provides immediate access to the information required for informed decision-making.

In September, “Natural Gas - The Solution You Need to Trade, Manage Risk and Operate Better Than Competitors” was presented by Patrick Reames, vice president, energy trading & risk management, UtiliPoint International and Doug Daugherty, vice president, engineering, Triple Point.

The challenges for trading and physical movement of natural gas—the complex deal structures, unique pipeline requirements, multiple regulatory bodies and acute volatility were discussed.

Companies need systems that allow for a single point of data entry, single point of information, a portfolio view of business, clear control and execution, reduced risk, centralized reporting and reduced costs. These factors are key to gain the competitive advantage.

The Webinar then outlined the “must haves” to look for in an ETRM system. Finally, participants were able to see a live demo of Triple Point’s Gas Scheduling ‘Visual Cockpit’—the industry’s leading solution. n

Gary M. Vasey, Ph.D. V.P., Europe UtiliPoint International

Patrick Reames V.P. Energy Trading & Risk Management UtiliPoint International

Josh Gray, Ph.D. Vice President FEA

This fall Triple Point was selected by SAP to be 1 of 22 “endorsed” partners. Triple Point and SAP are co-developing Commodity SLTM, an integrated front-to-back office solution for the supply, trading and marketing of commodities. The new solution, built on SAP NetWeaver, seamlessly integrates real-time, market-based portfolio and risk management from Triple Point with SAP’s advanced logistical software solutions to enable organizations to make faster and smarter buy, sell, move and hedge decisions.

Holly Corporation, an independent petroleum refiner and marketer, is piloting the solution and sees promise in the innovation resulting from the relationship between Triple Point, SAP and customers. “This is exactly what we’ve been looking for—a solution that seamlessly integrates our trading and risk management functions with all of our back-office and other operations managed by SAP software,” said Mark Evans, director, SAP Projects, Holly Corporation. “By combining real-time financial valuations with physical movements, we’ll be able to make the most of profit opportunities across the whole supply chain. We are thrilled to be involved in this effort—it’s going to give us a big competitive advantage.” n

TrIple poInT/sAp evenTs

New Informative Webinar Series for 2006

February 6 - 8, 2007Essen, Germany E-World 2007Messe Essen und CCE Congress Center

February 13, 2007London, UKTrading, Risk Management & Scheduling Solution ShowcaseCumberland Hotel

February 28 - March 2, 2007 Amsterdam, Netherlands6th SAP International Utilities Conference 2007RAI Exhibition and Congress Center

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Major Industry Journals Cover Triple Point’s Superior Software Solutions

Coal and Oil Company LLC – a Dubai, United Arab Emirates based energy trading and investment firm, has implemented Commodity XL and PhysOps ‘Visual Cockpit’ for its trading, risk management and logistics operations.

“Triple Point’s system will become a vital part of CNO’s strategic, IT driven enterprise planning, execution and control solution,” said Zulficar Ghani, senior manager, IT, CNO. “Triple Point provides the most advanced technology, proven product functionality and a reputation for service excellence.”

“Our vision is to implement an overall enterprise solution that provides CNO with a significant business advantage; an IT solution that is a business driver and would enable CNO to achieve its aggressive growth plans. And Triple Point is a key component to achieving superior results in our coal and oil operations,” said Mr. Ahmed Buhari, CEO Coal and Oil.

HydroWingas Limited – an independent company that markets gas and related supply services throughout the UK, chose Commodity XL for Gas to support its strategic portfolio optimization initiatives. The European natural gas market, similar to the energy markets worldwide, has become more unpredictable and Commodity XL is the only solution that enables the complete management, measurement, control and reporting of commodity portfolios.

“The days when large gas users undertook an annual tendering process as part of their yearly procurement review have been made obsolete by a much more complex and volatile market, in which continuous optimization and ongoing reviews are the keys to successfully managing energy portfolios,” said Peter Westhof, deputy (HydroWingas Cont.)managing director, HydroWingas Limited.

new ClIenTs seleCT TrIple poInT(ConT. from pAge 1)

Triple Point was featured in many leading industry publications

Current market conditions, combined with acute volatility and a stringent focus on risk management and corporate governance have created increased demand for commodities trading, scheduling and risk management systems. Triple Point’s solution, Commodity XL, is on the forefront of cutting-edge technology, allowing a seamless flow of data from trader to scheduler to back-office. It’s not surprising this innovative solution has been featured extensively in the press this year. Here are some excerpts from major industry publications.Read the full articles at www.tpt.com/commentary.asp.

“Smart Solutions to Tough Problems” was featured in Energy Risk. An interview of Triple Point’s Chief Marketing Officer,

Michael Schwartz reveals that volatility, regulation and political instability are all putting demands on the market. An effective energy trading and risk management system is the only

way to mitigate risk and ensure corporate compliance.

Home-grown, siloed systems used to support commodity trading cannot keep pace in this new business environment. Companies are recognizing that if the mismatch continues, they run the risk of losing business, failing audits and incurring excess costs.

Commodities Now featured “Real Time, Transparent Information a Must.” Economists and strategists debate the future volatility of the metals’ commodities market, citing increased global demand from China and India. Some are bullish, some bearish, but all agree that the ability to manage volatility will be a key success factor for metal organizations. And for the majority of metals companies, trading, risk management and logistics systems have not kept pace.

The solution is for companies to implement real-time, integrated trading and risk management systems that cross commodity groups, provide straight-through processing for users around the globe and offer companies the opportunity to capitalize on market fluctuations.

“Trading and Risk Management Systems for Hedge Funds” was featured in EnergyHedge. Hedge fund companies are drawn to the energy markets because acute volatility means opportunity. They must be able to seize opportunities in real-time to take advantage of prevailing market conditions.

Hedge funds often have a short-term need to implement a solution quickly to support the trade desk.

They often turn to spreadsheets—which are not the best solution. For a single user they can be a useful tool, but spreadsheets tend to “fall apart” when used as an enterprise-wide tool. Data can’t flow quickly and accurately throughout the enterprise. Therefore the greatest cost of individually maintained spreadsheets is the implicit cost of poor decisions based on faulty data.

Many hedge funds start out trading just one commodity, but want to keep their options open to trade additional commodities in the future. A better alternative to spreadsheets is to implement a system that can handle the future need for trading multiple commodities on a common platform.

Hedge funds, being extremely nimble, need to consider how a flexible, scalable trading and risk management system would improve real-time data flow and empower better and quicker decision making. Continued Page 7

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“In order to maintain an excellent service standard during our rapid growth, HydroWingas Limited has made a strategic investment in Commodity XL for Gas. This will allow HydroWingas Limited to deliver the sophisticated products demanded by its customers while maintaining secure control and accurate management of its portfolio,” added Edward Stock, business development manager, HydroWingas Limited.

Vinmar International, Ltd. – a leader in providing global logistical, marketing, distribution and financial services for a wide array of petrochemicals, fuel components and plastics based in Houston, Texas, chose Triple Point Commodity XL for Oil along with PhysOps ‘Visual Cockpit’ to support biofuels, fuel product, and petrochemicals trading, risk management and physical logistics.

“Vinmar markets approximately two million tons of fuel products, polymers and chemicals a year around the world. We were looking for an advanced trading, risk management and logistical system that addressed all the functions critical to support our broad, complex and rapidly growing business,” said Doug Friedman, Vinmar’s vice president, fuel products. “Triple Point’s industry and application expertise are both reflected in the tremendous functionality of Commodity XL; it’s a perfect fit for our business now. Perhaps most importantly, the system’s flexibility will allow it to easily grow as we grow. In addition, Triple Point’s hosted ASP deployment model will get Vinmar up and running quickly, without significant infrastructure investment, minimizing the start-up capital required.” n

new ClIenTs seleCT TrIple poInT(ConT. from pAge 6)

“Transaction Systems Needs and Trends – Or What Keeps Some Traders Up at Night” is an enlightening article in The Desk. Scudder Publishing’s John Sodergreen interviewed Triple Point’s Doug Daugherty, vice president, engineering, and asked him what’s keeping the traders up at night. “Sarbanes-Oxley, risk management and the desire for high-test gas storage applications” was Doug’s answer.

Daugherty says what all the big forward-thinking companies looked for in a system five years ago, everybody else is now scrambling to attain. “There are several standard ingredients that every ETRM system customer is looking for, that have really become the table stakes in the systems business. Real-time software and real-time processes,” he says. “We hear about all the problems with multiple points of entry and double entry, and the multiple points of failure in the reconciliation process. Nowadays, to handle all the multiple entry problems, you need real-time software, simple as that.”

“Additionally,” he says, “we’re seeing a strong push, on the producer side and on the retail side, to really push the window into what I’d consider to be pure trading.”

Daugherty tells us there’s much less hesitation these days for companies to define or describe themselves as trading shops. Trading isn’t the same four-letter word that it was four or five years ago. I think this bodes well for software like Triple Point’s that supports high volume, structured, multi-commodity transactions.”

Lastly he notes, “In the physical gas market, it’s all about storage, storage, storage. Everybody is making big storage plays, whether physical or virtual.”

Triple Point featured in The Desk issue devoted to industry thought leaders. “Filling in the ETRM Gaps Now and in 2007” featured Michael Schwartz, chief marketing officer, Triple Point, who examines future key requirements of an ETRM system. He reflects on how over the last couple of years the momentum has been building for organizations to upgrade ETRM systems.

“One Enterprise, One Solution,” is a theme he predicts will take hold in the coming year. Companies who are faced with disparate systems are seeing the need to have better business intelligence tools in place to exploit trading and supply chain profit opportunities. One enterprise-wide trading and risk solution allows executives to know exactly how their business is performing at any given moment and make adjustments accordingly. He expects a significant investment in these systems in 2007.

The Risk Desk’s “Season of Surveys – ETRM: Can’t Get No Satisfaction” discussed Triple Point’s research poll which posed the question “Are your current energy trading and risk management systems meeting your organization’s needs?” A resounding 90% replied “No.”

What is missing? Triple Point’s research has found that many ETRM systems are not keeping pace with the increased volatility of the commodities market and today’s tighter regulation and corporate governance requirements. The survey also indicated that most energy trading/marketing companies have between three and thirteen separate applications running in their businesses. This article continues and lists some key criteria to consider when evaluating a comprehensive ETRM system.

Commodities Now reviews Triple Point’s ‘Visual Cockpit’ and how it performs the complex natural gas scheduling functions seamlessly, and integrates data for real-time, accurate decision making.

The volatile financial aspect of natural gas trading has been in the business news recently, the physical side—natural gas scheduling—is often overlooked.

Unless your business is purely financial in nature, you must be able to analyze, manage, and account for your physical business: identifying long and short positions, covering those positions through trading or storage transactions, scheduling gas on multiple pipelines via multiple contracts, dealing with pipeline or market constraints, and potentially rescheduling through multiple cycles; all before the gas even flows. Adding to this complexity is the need to optimize each transaction, ensuring that not only does the gas flow the next day, but it flows in the most profitable way while minimizing operational risk.

Triple Point’s Gas Scheduling ‘Visual Cockpit’ is based on an advanced graphical scheduling model that presents all data in an intuitive, visual format. The module is a central control point that gives schedulers all the information required to perform complex scheduling—including balance, capacity, transportation cost and other critical decision making data—displayed in real-time on a single screen. n

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Triple Point To The Point is published and distributed by Triple Point Technology Inc. For more information, please contact Julie Preuss at +1.203.291.7979 or [email protected].

Editorial and Production Staff Executive Editor: Michael Schwartz Managing Editor: Julie Preuss Art Direction & Production: Julie Preuss

©2007 by Triple Point Technology Inc. All rights reserved.

Triple Point Technology Corporate Headquarters 301 Riverside Avenue Westport, CT 06880 USA Tel: +1.203.291.7979 Fax: +1.203.291.7977 Web: www.tpt.com E-mail: [email protected]

Triple Point Technology is the leader in trading, risk management, scheduling and logistics solutions for commodities including power, oil, gas, coal, metals, agricultural products and freight. Triple Point Commodity XL profitably manages the complex, ever-changing requirements of physical and financial markets. Commodity XL integrates front-to-back office and delivers best-of-breed functionality for the supply, trading, marketing and movement of commodities on a single next-generation platform. Triple Point’s real-time system helps customers of all sizes streamline trade processing, reduce transaction costs, maximize supply chain efficiencies, precisely measure and manage market risk, evaluate performance, and ensure regulatory and accounting compliance.

Named “Software House of the Year” by Energy Risk, Triple Point’s award winning solutions are used by more than 25 percent of both Global 500 commodity trading companies and Global 500 energy companies including Hess Corporation, BP, HETCO, Morgan Stanley, Preem, Westar Energy, OMV, BPCL, ConocoPhillips, Petronas, Oxy, Cinergy, Lehman Brothers, Commerce Energy, ITOCHU, Old Lane, and Glencore. Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Westport, Connecticut, USA, Triple Point serves clients in Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, North America and South America from its five development and support centers strategically located around the world. More information is available at www.tpt.com. n

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TrIple poInT AwArds 2006

Continuing on last year’s success, Triple Point again received numerous noteworthy awards.

Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 award—Triple Point is one of only four companies in Connecticut to win for nine straight years.

The Connecticut “Quality Improvement” award —three years running.

Commodities Now Gold Winner for Energy Technology—awarded for exhibited excellence, innovation and creativity in addressing key challenges in the evolving and dynamic energy marketplace. n

About Triple Point Technology Inc.