(Previously Not Ranked) Orc Software, already a fixture in world markets because of the derivatives-oriented trading systems that it began developing in the 1980s, took a big step into equities in April by acquiring agency brokerage Neonet for Skr1.2 billion ($150 million). Both companies are based in Stockholm, long a hotbed of trading technology — it was the home base of exchange systems vendor OM, now part of Nasdaq OMX Group — and Thomas Bill, Orc’s CEO since 2006, now heads Neonet as well.

“Customers who trade derivatives also trade the underlying cash instruments, and they really need solutions for both,” says Bill, 45, who joined Orc after five years as president and CEO of Swedish data security companies Protect Data and Pointsec Mobile Technologies. Neonet’s attraction: its network, offering algorithm-supported direct access into 25 listed stock exchanges and 16 alternative trading venues and dark pools.

“Our customers need to find where liquidity is sitting, and Neonet has great technology for that,” which complements Orc’s trading and messaging products, says Bill. In May, his company introduced a new release of Orc Spreader for ultra-high-speed spread trading. It’s a market “so fast,” says Bill, “computations on the desktop are too slow. This product can win lots of trades in the most extreme markets.”

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