NEW YORK, June 20, 2002 — Thomson Financial, an operating unit of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC, TSX) and leading provider of information and technology solutions to the worldwide financial community, today announced it has joined forces with Microsoft Corp. to create integrated research and analysis solutions for institutional investment managers. The Thomson First Call Analyst application, built from Microsoft’s suite of technology products, provides buy-side institutional money managers integrated access to an array of Thomson content sets, including First Call research and morning notes, global analyst estimates, Datastream historical pricing and charting, Worldscope company accounts data, Carson Institutional holdings data and ILX equity pricing, while also allowing customers to publish and integrate their own internally generated research and proprietary data sets.
Using Microsoft®
.NET, Thomson Financial is able to connect numerous streams of internal and external content to create a seamless, concise, powerful analytical tool.
“Thomson Financial is known to its customers as having industry-leading data and information, combined with speed of delivery and superior technology,”
noted Jeff Scott, chief technology officer at Thomson Financial.
“When deciding how to integrate Thomson Financial’s data, analytics and services so that clients benefit from one seamless platform, Microsoft technology — most significantly .NET — was the right choice.”
“Microsoft sees .NET and web services playing a major role in the future of the financial services industry,”
said Kenny McBride, global industry manager for capital markets at Microsoft.
“Thomson Financial’s choice for its integrated workflow solutions demonstrates how .NET brings together varied content and functionality into one seamless whole. Thomson Financial’s ability to provide seamless connectivity in its suite of products ensures that the company enhances its standing as a leader in financial services.”
“This alliance is a win-win as it reduces cost and complexity for Thomson Financial, and allows us to deliver our best-of-breed content on a single platform,”
said Suresh Kavan, president of Thomson Financial’s Investment Management Group.
“Investment managers win as they now can streamline their securities analysis and research workflow — a tremendous benefit to help them reach superior investment decisions.”
Microsoft and Thomson Financial are collaborating on a number of initiatives in messaging, database technology, desktop product integration and systems development. Microsoft .NET’s rich, built-in support for Web Service access, and the component-centric Smart Client framework, combined with Thomson Financial’s extensive content and analytical services, provides a robust, customizable solution on the money manager’s desktop.
Microsoft .NET is a set of Microsoft software technologies for connecting the world of information, people, systems and devices. It enables an unprecedented level of software integration through the use of XML Web services: small, discrete, building-block applications that connect to each other — as well as to other, larger applications — via the Internet. .NET-connected software delivers what developers need to create XML Web services and stitch them together. The benefit to individuals is seamless, compelling experiences with information sharing.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
About Thomson Financial
Thomson Financial is a US$1.6 billion provider of information and technology solutions to the worldwide financial community. Through the widest range of products and services in the industry, Thomson Financial helps clients in more than 70 countries make better decisions, be more productive and achieve superior results. Thomson Financial is part of The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), a leading provider of value-added information and technology to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate training and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. The Corporation reported 2001 revenues of US$7.2 billion and its common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX).
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