Capital market institutions and their throngs of traders are constantly looking for new ways to stay ahead of the game. Time is money � and in the world of equity trading and investments, the power of Microsoft Office Excel as a strategic business tool is growing. Today, at one of the leading forums for the financial services industry, the SIA (Securities Industry Association) Technology Management Conference & Exhibit, Microsoft�s U.S. Financial Services Group is showcasing what promises to become one of the world�s most advanced modeling and trading platforms � the Microsoft Office Excel Services/Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 solution.

Later this year, Microsoft will release two new Excel-related products: Excel 2007 Client as part of 2007 Microsoft Office system and Excel Services as part of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. The new Excel 2007 Client is designed to bring major new features and usability improvements, as well as significant performance boost realized through multithreading support. Excel Services promises to take the ubiquitous Excel applications to new levels with centralized management, increased scalability via native support for multi-CPU x64 servers, and much more. Finally, combining an Excel Services front end with Microsoft Windows Computer Cluster Server 2003 results in even greater performance and scalability.

To learn more, PressPass spoke with Stevan Vidich, technology architect for Microsoft�s U.S. Capital Markets Industry Group.