Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Cyborg Trading Systems (CTS) is a small software development company specialising in customized automated trading systems for financial institutions. This collaborative research project between Fanshawe College and CTS involves investigating, leveraging and integrating cloud technology, specifically the Microsoft Azure Cloud for financial trading applications. Utilizing cloud technology solutions is expected to provide CTS' end customers with a flexible and easily scalable system while minimizing infrastructure (hardware) investments, which will give CTS a competitive advantage. Four Fanshawe 2nd year Computer Programmer Analyst students have been identified to work with CTS during their co-operative education terms from September 2011 until December 2011 (16 weeks). The Fanshawe students will work with the senior development team at CTS to investigate and test the applicability of cloud technology for CTS' applications The first step of the project is to investigate the deployment and data transport models used in cloud technology. Next, the Fanshawe students will work to integrate targeted components into the Microsoft Cloud, and assess the performance of cloud-based technologies. Full integration of cloud technology into high speed automated trading applications is a very complex and sizeable task, so this project is expected to represent the first of several phases. Ongoing efforts in this field are expected to require resources in the form of Highly Qualified People (HQP's) from Fanshawe in further research, co-op and ultimately full-time positions in the Financial Services Industry.