UNX, a provider of trading technology solutions, has added five major brokerage firms to its trading connectivity network, following the release of the latest version of UNX's Catalyst Portal and EMS, which has recently been made available. Equity algorithms and electronic trading services from Girard Securities, Goldman Sachs Electronic Trading, Mizuho Securities USA, Rosenblatt Securities and UBS Investment Bank are now available through Catalyst. This provides both buy- and sell-side clients with easy access to their choice of destinations through a single portal, UNX said in a release. Engineered using the latest .NET technology from Microsoft, Catalyst's open technology framework and advanced Software Development Kit (SDK) will allow brokers and clients to directly control the integration and roll out of new services and strategies as they are being developed. Using the SDK, non-UNX developers can add functionality without having to involve the UNX development staff and incurring additional fees. According to UNX CEO Thomas Kim, this unparalleled flexibility and ability for brokers to develop and integrate their own specific offerings is a key differentiator for Catalyst, boosting its allure to brokers who want to promptly roll out the latest developments directly to clients. "For example, many algorithms supplied by brokers like Goldman Sachs and UBS have seen a surge in demand and are being updated more frequently," explained Kim. "UNX is excited to work with these market-leading brokers and help them add substantial value to clients by delivering new strategies and proprietary content/services almost immediately." Rishi Nangalia, managing director and global head of business development at Goldman Sachs Electronic Trading (GSET), agrees. "GSET continues to enhance our algorithms to adapt to market conditions, so making sure the latest strategies, such as Port-X and IS, are available to clients is a top priority," he stated. "We recently joined the UNX broker network and have found that the speed and ease of deployment that Catalyst offers are a distinct advantage." For UBS Investment Bank, the ability to customize its offerings and add functionality "on the fly" was a significant benefit to integrating its algorithms with Catalyst, according to Charlie Susi, Americas Head of Direct Execution for UBS. "Key to our success in algorithmic trading has been our ability to leverage our advanced technology, evolve strategies, bring innovations, and react to marketplace changes quickly and continuously," he said. "Catalyst's open-technology framework means that we can easily add functionality ourselves using its Software Development Kit. This enhances our ability to deliver iterative, ever-increasing value, and rapidly customize algorithms tailored specifically to our clients' workflow," Susi added. In January, 2010, UNX released significant enhancements to Catalyst that extend its broker-neutral functionality, expand both list trading and single-stock trading capabilities, provide overall usability and workflow improvements and build upon the open APIs.