KX Systems Appoints Mark Sykes as Global Market Strategist

Palo Alto (July 14, 2015) – KX Systems, a leader in high-performance database and time-series analytics, has expanded its senior team with the appointment of Mark Sykes as Global Market Strategist. Mark’s role will be to broaden the application of the kdb+ database solution within financial services and into other markets such as energy, pharmaceuticals and click-stream analytics.

Mark commented: “I’ve worked closely with kdb+ over the years and seen it become the industry standard for handling tick data at large financial institutions. We’re now witnessing even greater demand for time-series data solutions from the middle office, where real-time analytics is so crucial to enterprise risk management. I’ll be focusing on opportunities in financial services and in other sectors where kdb+ is ideally suited, like click analytics and smart metering.”

Mark has over 20 years’ experience in capital markets and data analytics. As Global Head of Algorithmic Solutions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch from 2010 to 2013, he managed the quant, trading and technology teams and introduced the FX execution platform built on kdb+. Previous roles include Director, Foreign Exchange at Citigroup, designing FX algorithmic execution strategies, and Director, Head of Algorithmic Trading at Deutsche Bank, implementing the bank’s first tick history database using kdb+. Mark is based in London.

For 22 years, KX has supported the trading activity of some of the world’s largest trading organizations. These and other financial services firms have defined many of the big data best practices that other industries are now adopting. This includes utilities and pharmaceuticals, where existing systems are often unable to cope with rising data volumes.

Janet Lustgarten, CEO at KX, said: “Mark brings a wealth of experience tackling large and complex data projects within financial institutions. Having operated with us on the client-side, he has a great deal of insight into kdb+ and truly understands its potential across a range of industries. He will be hugely valuable in taking our business forward and achieving our growth ambitions.”

About KX
Founded in 1993, KX is the provider of kdb+, a time-series database for performance-critical environments. Its technology is widely adopted by financial institutions around the world, including Morgan Stanley, RBC, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs and IEX. The company counts the top ten global investment banks among its customers, many of whom deploy kdb+ as their enterprise-wide market data server.

In recent years, the company has expanded into new sectors, including utilities, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, and academic research. Kdb+ is ideally suited to these and other industries that rely heavily on vast data volumes and high-speed analytics.

KX and kdb+ are registered trademarks of KX Systems, Inc.

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