Headstrong Launches 'STRIDE CROSS' Analysis

The Securities Industry's First-Ever ROI Measurement for Internal Crossing

NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 02, 2005 – Headstrong, Inc., a global consultancy and leading provider of crossing technology to the securities industry, today announced the availability of STRIDE CROSS Analysis, a powerful new component-based service that enables buy-side and sell-side institutions to measure the potential savings from using an internal crossing engine.

"Disparate order routing systems have created a fragmented, inefficient market," said Greg Johnston, Director, Headstrong Financial Products. "As a result, firms are embracing the internal marketplace to consolidate and extract additional value from order flow. STRIDE CROSS Analysis is the only service available that identifies opportunities and calculates the resultant cost savings from crossing order flow internally. It provides tangible justification for firms considering internal crossing as a means to lower execution costs and the implicit and explicit costs of trading."

"This new service is testimony to Headstrong’s leadership in the emerging Internal Markets segment of the industry," said Sandeep Sahai, Managing Director at Headstrong. "We are committed to building deep domain expertise in the financial services industry and will continue to invest in building tools, components and products that help customers solve business problems."

STRIDE CROSS Analysis uses the STRIDE Crossing Engine and historical order, trade and market data, to simulate an internal crossing environment. It identifies the number of shares a firm can cross naturally and assesses the potential crossing rate of order flow coming from each trading group ("silo") in order to determine the optimal interaction among order flow silos. It also supplies exact crossing details including the potential price-improvement for each internally crossed order.

By providing a quantitative measure of a broker’s crossing rates, related savings, execution quality and return on investment, STRIDE CROSS Analysis enables management to understand the firm's true execution costs and the potential savings that could be realized from implementing an internal crossing system.

About Headstrong, Inc.
Headstrong, Inc. is a global consultancy and financial solutions company that delivers expertise across business processes, management consulting and technology within financial services, manufacturing, public sector and service industries. Headstrong’s financial solutions include matching engines and electronic exchange systems as well as trading, order management, stock lending, clearing, settlement and financial messaging systems. Customers include stock exchanges, commodity exchanges, brokerage houses and investment banks in addition to new generation marketplaces such as ATS, ECNs, financial portals and private e-marketplaces. With a global resource pool of qualified advisors and its Global Delivery Centers, Headstrong can furnish a full range of integration services including strategic assessment, design, implementation, application development and maintenance both onshore and offshore. Headstrong helps clients align technology initiatives with business goals while leveraging its steadfast heritage (as James Martin + Co) of strong methodologies and standards for delivery. Headstrong maintains a 23-year track record of proven results and a solid client base. The company is headquartered near Washington, DC, with a global presence across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. For more information, visit www.headstrong.com or contact Headstrong Press Relations at www.headstrong.com or contact Headstrong Press Relations at press@headstrong.com.