Even though it’s been only 24 hours since the announcement, you’d have to be living under a rock if you haven’t heard that Sun has taken Java open source with a GPL license.

I’ve spoken to short of a few gillion people since yesterday and the opinions on the impact of this move are varied. The question as it relates to the world of financial technology is whether this really matters? At first it’s easy to dismiss this move as a desperate act. Some of my colleagues correctly pointed out that no financial firm is going to invest resources into developing enhanced versions of the Java platform. OK, I conceed you that one, but this is sure to be of use to firms such as Azul systems an oppurtinity to contribute more in the space of high performance.

Now I would not suggest that such companies would push out their own lucrative technology into the public space, but I suspect that they are now in a place where they can contribute to changes in Java that would enhance the ability to offer such technology in the first place.

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From CNN this morning we have this:

After dropping nearly 8 percent in 2005, IBM’s mainframe revenue is up 10 percent this year. That includes a 25 percent gain in the most recent quarter.

Mainframes were IBM’s fastest-growing hardware segment after the microchip division, which is enjoying a nice ride making microprocessors for the top three video game consoles.

IBM does not release precise figures, but analysts estimate mainframe revenue at roughly $2.3 billion in the first nine months of 2006. While that is a small chunk of IBM’s overall sales of $65 billion so far this year, mainframe revenue is especially precious because the machines drive huge software and maintenance deals, making them IBM’s most profitable line of hardware.

Uh oh, does this mean we should expect the trend to take over financial technology? I really hope not… What does the crystal ball say?

Of course, the huge third-quarter boost is unlikely to be sustained. IBM is benefiting from having released two new mainframes in the past year, and sales eventually should taper until an upgrade comes, at least a year from now.

Such ups and downs are typical: Unisys Corp., a much smaller vendor, has seen mainframe sales drop this year, but spokesman Brian Daly said the numbers strengthened in the third quarter with the release of a new model.

Oh boy that was a close one wasn’t it?

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An interesting survey by Orchestra, maker of network policy monitoring tools for enterprise computing environments, revealed that those of us working on Wall St. are more aware that we’re being watched (and read) than the folks who work outside of the geographical area:

A total of 300 people working in Wall Street and the City were surveyed by Orchestria, a company which makes software to enforce employees to use network resources in accordance with company policy and international regulations.

The research discovered that more than 60 per cent of respondents in New York thought that it was right that their employer should monitor their email. By contrast, only 38 per cent in London supported their firm’s right to monitor email.

I don’t know what kind of training they do in London, but anyone who has ever worked on the sell side can probably attest to hours of online training applets on the issue of compliance. I suspect that despite how boring these lessons have been, one can hardly fail to be surprised that monitoring is going on in all forms.

That won’t stop some of us (not me of course) from trying to dodge such roadblocks:

However, New Yorkers are more likely to try to dodge email monitoring. Sixty per cent admitted that they had sent something that they ‘didn’t want their employer to know about’ using webmail.

This compared to 42 per cent of London respondents. Or maybe City workers are better liars when it comes to market surveys.

Are NY’ers better liars? I’ll leave that question for another day…

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Yesterday the NYSE announced that they will be closing down one of their major trading rooms, affecting 33 brokers:

“This effort will produce cost savings and further increase efficiencies for both the floor firms and the exchange,” said Nelson Chai, the NYSE’s chief financial officer, in a written statement.

As the stock exchange moves to embrace electronic systems, analysts have long predicted the Big Board would scale back its floor operations, based on centuries-old auction-based work handled by brokers and specialists. The London Stock Exchange and many other major stock markets are fully automated.

As the article notes, they are actually somewhat late to the game, yet it still signals a the hardening trend of automation through technology.

Chai said that new technology used by floor brokers and specialists was, in part, responsible for the change. Those traders can handle increasing order volume with greater speed and efficiency, he said.

…

Some analysts said the NYSE would eventually abandon specialists and floor brokers and move to a wholly electronic system. Jerry Putnam, the Big Board’s chief technology officer, said last week “we made a decision not to decide” about the future of the trading floor.

And it won’t be long now until everything is automated. Just think, that image we all have of a bustling Wall St. exchange floor will soon be nothing but a memory of simpler times.

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