Microsoft Unveils New .Net Services For Financial Pros

Microsoft is making foundation technologies from its MSN Money Web site available to financial-services firms that want to customize Web-based services for their clients.

MSN Money Professional, which offers financial professionals an array of tools ranging from portfolio reporting to secure document publishing, is available to ISVs that want to repackage it and offer it to their customers

Advent Software, San Francisco, is the first licensee. Advent offers online services and content for large institutional customers such as Salomon Smith Barney, Paine Webber and Goldman Sachs.

It comes down to a "buy or build" decision, said Charles Record, vice president of new business development at Advent. "Big brokerage firms wouldn't license their solutions because they see them as a competitive advantage. And what Microsoft offers is a platform, not just products."

ISVs can mix and match Microsoft code with their own as needed, said Paul Dillon, planning and business-development manager for MSN Money Professional Services. And third-party vendors can use instant messaging and alert technologies to set up near-realtime alerts based on customer requirements, he said.

The technology will go to beta in the first quarter of next year, Dillon said.

Also, as previously reported by CRN, Microsoft unveiled Microsoft Producer at Comdex, held here. The software is designed to make it easier for business users to incorporate synchronized video and audio in their PowerPoint presentations, according to Microsoft. The finished product can then be burned onto a CD or posted the Web.

Solution providers have already been using beta versions of the product to produce training materials for remote customers and employees. The software is downloadable now from Microsoft's Web site.

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