Hedge fund manager III Offshore Advisors (III) has tapped .NET-based Digipede Technologies for a distributed computing solution that will power its high-performance financial analytics grid that manages compute-intensive applications in risk management and trading analytics.

Both III and Digipede are Windows-based shops and the technology synergies were a major factor in III’s decision to select Digipede Technologies’ Digipede Network.

“The Digipede Network really stood out as the obvious choice for us, because of the natural way it fit into our existing IT infrastructure and preferred development technology,” says Paul Algreen, CTO at III. “We are an all-Windows shop, and our developers all use Visual Studio to develop our applications – primarily in .NET, although we also use some third-party COM libraries.”

The fact that Digipede would not require retraining for developers meant III would be able to move into the market more quickly, Algreen adds. “This kind of productivity is critical for getting us into the market faster with new algorithms for pricing, trading and risk management,” he says.

III took its grid from proof-of-concept to production in less than two weeks, says John Powers, president of Digipede Technologies. “That’s only possible with a grid solution specifically designed to fit with existing IT and development tools and practices,” he says.

Microsoft’s US capital markets industry solution director Craig Saint-Amour added: “We're pleased to see innovative solutions being delivered in grid computing on the Windows platform, where recent investments by Microsoft and its partners are now delivering real benefits for our mutual customers."

The Digipede Network grid computing solution is built entirely on .NET and integrates with Microsoft SQL Server, Visual Studio, Windows Compute Cluster Server and other Windows Server products. Developers can write .NET or COM applications for the Digipede Network and bring the power of grid computing to the Windows platform.