Magic Quadrant For Energy TR 227079

Industry Research
G00227079
Magic Quadrant for Energy Trading and Risk
Management Platforms
Published: 13 March 2012
Analyst(s): Keith Harrison, David Furlonger
Energy trading and risk management platforms provide energy market
participants with a means of optimizing the physical and financial positions
of multiple commodities. This Magic Quadrant analyzes the leading
providers of these platforms.
Market Definition/Description
For a full definition of the energy trading and risk management (ETRM) platform market, see "Market
Definition: Energy Trading and Risk Management Platforms." The core functional requirements of an
ETRM platform include the following for at least two energy-related commodities:
Transaction/deal capture: Many of the larger multicommodity ETRM platform solutions began
as trade/deal capture solutions and developed from there. The trade or deal can be viewed as
the initial transaction in a process that will conclude with the settlement of an invoice. Real-time
trade capture is a key component for power generators, using links with generation operations
to ensure that the company remains in balance with supply meeting demand. The potential
range of transactions is extensive, covering financial instruments from simple deals to complex
single- and cross-commodity or asset-class transactions, as well as physical-commodity
transactions.
Logistics and delivery: The delivery of energy or commodities is a significant part of an ETRM
platform. All commodities associated with energy trading (with the exception of emissions) have
a physical delivery aspect, although, where energy is traded on a purely speculative basis, this
is less of a concern. There are many unique constraints and considerations with the delivery of
these commodities. Power is scheduled and delivered via a transmission network; natural gas
via pipelines and storage facilities; coal via shipping, rail and road; and so on. In each case, the
ability to optimize the delivery of a commodity is an ETRM platform requirement.
Trader tools/analytics: Traders are key users of ETRM platforms and should be provided with
a range of tools used in establishing the potential value of a transaction in isolation, and when
set against a book or portfolio.
Position management and reporting: Possibly the most critical capability of an ETRM
platform is the ability to reflect the status of the company's energy portfolio from physical and
financial perspectives. Additionally, the end user should be able to view the position through a
number of operational lenses for example, by book, strategy, commodity, trader,
counterparty and so on. Wherever possible, this should be in real time or near real time.
Risk management and reporting: Many risks can be quantified and reported via an ETRM
platform from credit-related or counterparty-related risks to market-related or price-related
risks, risks related to the physical aspect of delivery, and risks related to compliance with
regulatory requirements such as accounting standards. Many specialized energy risk
management solution providers do not offer ETRM platforms; however, portfolio risk
management capabilities have been a feature of ETRM platforms for several years.
Straight-through processing (STP): This ETRM platform capability the ability to automate
the management and control of all touchpoints among trade entry, invoicing and settlement
significantly reduces the potential for errors associated with the use of multiple systems. This
capability can also help reduce the burden associated with IT and business unit compliance.
Integration: An ETRM platform's integration capabilities with internal solutions (such as

financial and operational systems), external systems and data sources (such as market prices
and intelligence providers) are critical to the wholesale or marketing operations. In some cases,
these interfaces are with real-time systems, such as scheduling, and supervisory control and
data acquisition solutions. Such interfaces need to be reliable and secure.
Page 2 of 29 Gartner, Inc. | G00227079
Magic Quadrant
Figure 1. Magic Quadrant for Energy Trading and Risk Management Platforms
Source: Gartner (March 2012)
Vendor Strengths and Cautions
Allegro
Product: Allegro v.8
In 2011, Allegro delivered new functionality in the areas of option modeling and analytics, European
power market connectivity, and trader productivity. Allegro continues to reap the benefits of the
move to the v.8 architecture, with a steady flow of new functionality delivered in association with the
user community, including the recent addition of Trade Connect 8.1 for the integration of instant-
message-based trades, and Decision Metrics 8.1, which provides a configurable view of typical key
performance indicators (KPIs) for trading and risk functions, deliverable to a wide range of devices,
including tablets.
Gartner, Inc. | G00227079 Page 3 of 29
Strengths
Allegro is an established ETRM vendor in the energy sector, with a sizable presence in the
sectors of exploration and production, refining and marketing, and utilities.
Allegro offers a functionally rich, fully integrated product suite, with coverage for all energy-
related commodities.
The company supports a wide range of physical and financial transactions, and has excellent
market and exchange connectivity to 22 commonly used derivative exchanges.
Its energy risk management coverage extends into hedge accounting, with support for
International Accounting Standard (IAS) 39, and for Financial Accounting Standards Board
(FASB) 133, FASB 161 and FASB 157 compliance requirements.
Its product has been based on the .NET framework with XML Web services and service-
oriented architecture (SOA) since 2002. Architecturally, Allegro v.8 remains one of the most
flexible, secure and scalable solutions within the Leaders quadrant.
It has established partnerships and relationships with many third parties, including professional
services organizations, such as Deloitte, Opportune, The Structure Group, Baringa Partners,
Sapient and Indra.
Allegro's agile deployment method and collaborative development program leverage the v.8
architecture to provide for reduced implementation times and development times for new
functionality.
Allegro's revised software development process actively engages customers in all aspects of
design, and makes use of the architectural improvements in v.8 to improve turnaround times.
Cautions
For customers on v.6 and earlier, realizing the architectural and functional benefits of a v.8
installation can involve a complex migration.
Allegro has consistently chosen a path of organic growth. While relatively low risk, this may limit
growth prospects as others grow by acquisition.
Asia/Pacific has accounted for a declining share of revenue since 2009, although actual revenue
in the region has increased.
Amphora
Products: Symphony Cornerstone (CS) v.2.1 (trade capture and processing), Fleetime (waterborne
transportation and logistics for crude/products), Market Connector (exchange connectivity) and
LivePrices (imports settled prices to Symphony or third-party risk systems)
In 2011, Amphora added functionality for trade aggregation and automated feeds to a number of
exchanges, renewable identification number functionality in support of alternative fuels processing,
and loop inventory management functionality.
Strengths
Amphora is primarily focused on oil markets, although with a commodity-neutral approach. Its
Symphony product has a good reputation within oil and gas markets globally.
Since its inception in 1997, Amphora has not lost a customer to its competitors.
Its functional coverage within oil markets is extensive, and it is particularly strong in logistics,
physical movements, position management and reporting, with a growing footprint in
emissions.
Its architecture lends itself well to large deployments in terms of number of concurrent users,
integration and performance. Amphora offers competitive pricing/ownership costs when set
against larger ETRM vendor solutions.
It has a good partner network covering system integrators (SIs), professional services and other
complementary solution providers in the ETRM space, such as specialist risk management
solution providers.
Its solutions are available on a lease basis and through perpetual license agreements, which
provide flexibility for procurement functions. A hosted deployment option is available.
Cautions
Although the Cornerstone ETRM platform is commodity-neutral in terms of trade capture and
processing through settlement and invoicing, its current use beyond crude or hydrocarbon
markets remains limited.
Sales and marketing resources remain limited in comparison with the competition, which
hampers growth.
Amphora does not offer a software as a service (SaaS) solution

Aspect Enterprise Solutions
Products: AspectCTRM LE (lite edition), SE (standard edition) and EE (enterprise edition)
In 2011, Aspect continued to enhance its SaaS-based offerings with the release of Aspect Physical
Operations, providing support for crude storage operations among other usability and functional
improvements, and improvements in the underlying platform's performance and scalability.
Strengths
Aspect's customer growth from a small base is targeted at midmarket or high-end users
seeking a SaaS solution. This is particularly applicable in global oil markets, where companies
have a wide range of locations.
The company has flexible offerings and keen pricing. Its main product is available in three
options, offering end users the choice of a light solution (AspectCTRM LE), the standard offering
(AspectCTRM SE) or a more comprehensive tool (AspectCTRM EE for large enterprises).
The company offers a forward curve solution, which was developed in collaboration with a
major oil client.
Aspect provides market data, news and analytics through its portal-based Aspect Decision
Support Center (AspectDSC), which sits on the same platform as its AspectCTRM solution,
linking the two solutions together to add further value to the installation. This also provides
Aspect with another channel to market.
AspectCTRM solutions are well-suited for merchants in the oil and refined products space that
are looking for a keenly priced trading solution with a rapid deployment time.
SaaS-based ETRM solutions, and other alternatives to traditional on-site deployments, are
expected to gain momentum in the coming years, as end users seek to reduce costs and
operational (IT) exposures. Aspect is well-positioned to capitalize on this.
Cautions
Aspect's support for credit risk management functions remains limited, compared with larger
competitors.
Its support for logistics and transportation remains limited, compared with competitors,
although the 2011 introduction of physical operations functionality partially addressed this, and
plans for further physical operations functionality for 2012 are in place.
Aspect remains a small, but growing, company that will continue to be challenged to compete
with bigger vendors without substantial organic investments. It will also compete via
acquisitions.
There is no direct access to major electronic marketplaces/exchanges from AspectCTRM,

although this is in the development road map for 2012.
Aspect has no formal partnering arrangements because of a market philosophy that centers on
simplifying the product development/deployment process.
Its changed business model from a license-oriented, professional-services-supported offering

to SaaS targeted at the small or midsize business market may create operational challenges for
existing clients.
Brady
Product: Elviz ETRM v.11.2
Brady successfully assimilated Viz Risk Management into the fold in 2011 following the acquisition
late in 2010. Elviz ETRM became the core energy platform product for Brady, with its Trinity and
FinTrade products used for other commodities. Enhancement to Elviz ETRM included
improvements to the curve server (new definitions), product interfaces and batch processing
improvements.
Note: In February 2012, Brady announced the intended acquisition of two companies active in the
energy trading space: Navita (a Norwegian ETRM platform vendor) and syseca (a Swiss provider of
scheduling and logistics solutions for energy). The acquisition of Navita will substantially increase
Brady's footprint in European energy companies and utilities, and the syseca acquisition
complements the current Elviz ETRM offering.
Strengths
Through Viz Risk Management, Brady has secured a strong European presence focused on
energy trading.
It continues to demonstrate the ability to tackle new energy-market-related challenges for

energy companies for example, the functionality added last year for retail contract pricing,
which is a key issue for utilities.
A sizeable proportion of Brady's energy customers are using Elviz ETRM to manage the EU
Emissions Trading System's (EU ETS's) positions.
It has a commodity-neutral approach, with extensive support for market risk management,
including cash flow at risk (CFaR), value at risk (VaR) and sensitivity analysis perspectives, as
well as configurable parameters, such as prices, volatilities, correlations and volumes.
Viz Risk Management was the only Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model
Integration (SEI-CMMI)-rated software company in this Magic Quadrant. Brady is continuing this
engagement for the Elviz ETRM product line.
Elviz ETRM is quick to deploy and is keenly priced, with a range of plug-in areas, such as
storage and generation optimization, data warehouse and business intelligence (BI) support,
and enhanced scenario analyses.
Its leasing approach to payments reduces end-user capital exposure and provides an exit route
should the service/solution not meet requirements. This is fairly unique. In times of capital
constraints in the European market, this could have increasing value to potential clients.
Cautions
Elviz is not yet available outside of Europe; however, with the Navita acquisition, Brady has a
small footprint in North America.
Brady's logistical, scheduling and transportation support is less complete than much of the
competition, although partnering arrangements exist in this area, and the recently announced
acquisitions of Navita and syseca should address the gap.
The acquisition of Navita could prove distracting to staff on both sides, and premerger product
road maps could change.
Murex
Product: Murex MX.3
Murex delivered a range of additional functional and user interface enhancements in 2011 to MX.3,
including further model enhancements and a new swing model that reduces modeling times;
enhancements for handling bulk deliveries; and clearing and regulatory reporting workflows. In
addition, most end-user operations are available as Web services, which provide additional
flexibility for end users.
Strengths
Murex is a large, long-standing, privately held vendor with a global reach. MX.3 is a cross-
commodity and cross-asset-class trading and risk management platform.
The Murex product architecture has a range of connectivity options for internal integration and
external connections with various trading and data platforms/exchanges, including Reuters,
Bloomberg, Trayport, IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) and Eurex.
The company has a solid global sales presence and a professional services support capability.
Its system has a strong front-office to back-office capability, especially in terms of transaction
management and derivatives modeling.
Murex offers solid reporting capabilities. It is also strong in over-the-counter derivatives for
principal trading and structured products.
The vendor has extensive risk management capabilities, including scenario generation, back
testing, aggregation analysis, limits, collateral management and reporting tools. In addition to
supporting a range of VaR calculations, MX.3 calculates earnings at risk (EaR), which is of value
in power markets when factoring in volumetric or delivery risks for assets held to maturity.
MX.3 can manage multiple commodities, including oil, natural gas, power, emissions/carbon,
metals, agriculture and freight. Its predominant capabilities center on the trading, risk and
processing aspects of these commodities.
MX.3 is configurable and a functionally rich product. To streamline the implementation process,
Murex offers an accelerated deployment methodology (MXpress), based on the use of
preconfigured solutions with "out of the box" functionality and an associated implementation
methodology.
Cautions
Murex is used as a cross-asset-class trading platform in many financial institutions; however, its
presence among energy merchants remains smaller than many of its key competitors in this
Magic Quadrant.
The company is increasing its focus on physical trading functions. In particular, its coverage of
power and natural gas in the EU, as well as oil (hydrocarbons), has improved. Support for vessel
operations and logistics remains an area of catch-up with key competitors.
MX.3 is a substantial platform technically and functionally. Its management and development
require skilled resources that are familiar with the product's configuration and integration tools.
Murex provides training and support for technical and functional staff.
Although Murex can offer a hosted delivery model in some cases, the majority of its clients opt
for a traditional deployment.
Navita
Products: Pomax ECTRM v.11.0 (core platform), Pomax TRM, Structuring Manager, various
commodity/regionally specific logistics modules, Curve Manager, and Broker Price Manager
In 2011, Navita introduced new functionality in the form of a new online analytical processing
(OLAP) database/BI solution for improved reporting from Pomax; a Trade Loader module for
importing trades from exchanges, such as ICE, the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and
Nord Pool; and a new contract standard calculation engine for the calculation of delivered value,
traded value, portfolio trade value and portfolio market-to-market traded value on contracts stored
within Pomax ETRM.
Note: Navita was acquired by Brady in March 2012. Brady has now acquired two European ETRM
platform vendors, Navita and Viz Risk Management. There is a degree of duplication between the
Elviz and Pomax ETRM platforms. Existing Navita customers should review plans for Navita
applications with the new owner.
Strengths
Through its Pomax product, Navita provides a comprehensive ETRM solution at a lower price
point than many of the more established and well-known ETRM vendors.
It is well-suited for asset-heavy end users, such as utilities and energy merchants, with many
deployments (mostly in the EU) integrating directly with system operators. It has a
comprehensive range of external interfaces with exchanges and market data providers.
Another key feature of the Pomax product is its ability to undertake the majority of typical
configuration, modeling and setup activities directly through the product management and
utility screens, thereby minimizing the need to use scripting or coding facilities to model assets
or complex contracts.
Pomax's user-friendly configuration screens contribute to lower installation times than much of
the competition.
Navita offers comprehensive support for market and credit risk management functions,
including Monte Carlo and parametric VaR, profit at risk (PaR), CFaR, and EaR analysis and
reporting.
Support for carbon dioxide (CO

2
)/emissions trading under the EU ETS is strong.
Pomax can be purchased under a traditional perpetual license, or it can be a lease-based

model, which reduces initial capital outlay.
Navita offers attractive pricing in comparison to its larger competitors.

Cautions
Navita is predominantly a supplier to European-based companies. Efforts to expand in the U.S.

are ongoing.
Competition among the larger players is reducing prices, which could adversely impact part of
Navita's value proposition.
The Brady acquisition could prove distracting for staff on both sides, and premerger product
strategies could change.
OATI
Products: webTrader (webTrader Power, webTrader Gas, webTrader Enterprise, webTrader Market,
webSettlement, webIntelligence) and webRisk
Functional enhancements during the past year include the ability to model a utility's Monte-Carlo-
based revenue-at-risk, CFaR and EaR support for the Southwest Power Pool Integrated market,
and the expansion of deal types supported to include heat rate products and FX transactions.
Strengths
OATI is an established vendor in North America primarily in power, but also in natural gas,
coal and emission trading under the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR).
The company is the largest and most established provider of SaaS-based ETRM platform
solutions in this Magic Quadrant.
It has deep knowledge of North American independent system operator (ISO) and regional
transmission organization (RTO) power market operations. More than 700 companies use
OATI's e-tagging solutions.
OATI solutions are provided predominantly under the SaaS model, which reduces on-site IT
deployment times and risks, hardware capital costs, and customer IT staff time. Given this
approach, webTrader Power and webTrader Gas can be of particular interest to smaller regional
energy merchants, utilities or supply companies, and to financial services organizations seeking
entry into North American physical markets for power and natural gas.
OATI's functional coverage in physical power logistics is strong, with additional functionalities in
asset optimization, management and reporting, which are provided through its webPlant
application.
The vendor has a symbiotic and productive relationship with its extensive user base through an
active, formal user group. Through an annual user conference and quarterly conference calls,
users can propose and vote on the prioritization of enhancements and modifications.
Cautions
OATI's multicommodity coverage remains limited and does not include crude or refined
products. However, a three-year development road map (unchanged from 2011) includes plans
to expand into other asset classes, such as coal and precious metals, as well as increase
financial trading capabilities.
Market coverage is limited to North America. Although inroads into the financial sector have
been made, because this market differs considerably from OATI's traditional utility market, a
more strategic approach will be required if growth is to be more than organic in nature.
Although the number of SaaS-based ETRM deployments has grown slightly, this remains
predominantly among small and midsize entities. Larger entities will consider SaaS-based
solutions for specific ETRM components, but traditional deployment remains the dominant
delivery method for ETRM platforms.
OpenLink Financial
Products: Endur; pMotion/ESS, gMotion and cMotion modules; iOPT modules for forecasting and
optimization; vDesktop; RiskPak; Risk Dashboard; Tax Module; Hedge Analyzer; Accounting
Manager; Trade Process Manager; Collateral Management; Energy Scenario Management;
Reconciliation Module; Producer Services Module; Active Data Services; standard gateways (for
example, ICE, NYMEX, European Energy Exchange [EEX], Trayport, Reuters and Bloomberg); dbc
SMARTsoft (supporting the biofuels market); and SolArc RightAngle v.11
2011 saw a change of ownership for OpenLink, followed quickly by the acquisition of SolArc. While
there is a degree of crossover between Endur/cMotion and RightAngle solutions in the bulk/liquids
markets, OpenLink's post-acquisition strategy focuses Endur-based solutions at multicommodity
opportunities with RightAngle, providing customers an alternative solution focused specifically on
bulk/liquid markets.
Strengths
OpenLink is an established ETRM vendor with operations in all major geographic market
locations. Across all commodity markets from smaller regional operators to multinational
energy companies OpenLink continues to demonstrate a broad and deep understanding of
all energy markets, including recent developments (such as the Dodd-Frank Act).
SolArc's RightAngle solution has a loyal following. The merger provides prospective customers
in bulk and liquid markets with an alternative to Endur/cMotion, and support from a market
leader in terms of expertise and professional services capability.
The merger has allowed OpenLink to optimize resources and R&D efforts for the Endur and
RightAngle solutions.
Endur is a highly configurable cross-commodity product, with extensive support for physical
and financial transactions, portfolio asset modeling, and valuation and analysis.
Endur and RightAngle are capable of scaling to very large international deployments, and
provide extensive integration capabilities.
Through the modules it gained from its IRM acquisition and its "smart ETRM" strategy,
OpenLink provides energy data management, load/price forecasting, planning and transport/
storage/asset optimization capabilities as an extension of the Endur ETRM platform. For asset-
heavy companies, linking asset optimization and ETRM makes sense for an asset-centric
enterprise portfolio valuation. In addition, OpenLink is integrating IRM with SolArc's RightAngle
product and its new Compass visualization tool to provide additional decision support
capabilities in the crude and products area for example, demand forecast or bulk and
liquefied natural gas (LNG) transport optimization.
OpenLink has a range of deployment options for Endur and RightAngle solutions, including
application service provider (ASP) offerings, which provide end users with flexibility when it
comes to IT deployments and capital/revenue payment options.
Extensions of and enhancements to OpenLink's product lines are continual.
OpenLink continues to have one of the largest dedicated internal professional services staff of
all the companies surveyed. The acquisition of SolArc has added to the already substantial
knowledgebase of the company.
Cautions
Endur is a substantial application. Extensive product training and education will be required for
new users particularly staff members involved in functions such as asset, risk and scenario
modeling. OpenLink University provides training in all areas.
Implementation time scales for an Endur deployment can be underestimated based on end-user
capabilities and the relatively complex nature of Endur's architecture. The introduction of
"Packages" a more preconfigured approach to installations for specific commodities in
specific regions and with specific generic functionality prebuilt (such as reporting and metrics)
should help reduce installation time scales for customers seeking a more rapid deployment.
OpenLink limits the distribution of product road map information beyond prospects and existing
clients. However, prospects are invited to user conferences, where more information is shared.
In an effort to ensure consistency across all customers and minimize transitional risk,
OpenLink's approach to upgrading the product architecture is cautious. Although OpenLink
uses an SOA for all external-facing integration points, IT staff at some customers would like to
see a wider adoption of SOA principles and a data-centric design in Endur. RightAngle was
migrated to a .NET architecture three to four years ago.
Pioneer Solutions
Products: TRMTracker, FASTracker, SettlementTracker and EmissionsTracker
In 2011, Pioneer Solutions delivered an OLAP cube reporting capability, enhanced template-based
deal entry and offered a swap data repository submission solution, building on a strong background
in financial regulatory and compliance solutions.
Strengths
Pioneer Solutions has a solid set of core market and credit risk metrics and analyses that meet
the needs of most energy companies or utilities.
Its rapid deployment and integration times (less than six months) are of interest to many end
users.
Its solution is keenly priced against the competition.
Although Pioneer Solutions' installed base remains relatively small, it is growing, and feedback
from end users is positive.
Its highly configurable solution provides end users with a high degree of control with OLAP
capabilities.
Its solution is available and supported in the North American and European markets.
Cautions
Pioneer Solutions' support for physical/logistical operations remains less comprehensive than
much of the competition.
As a relatively new solution, there is a danger of fragmented version control and maintenance
overheads, as unique end-user-driven developments stem from the core code base.
This is a relatively small company, with limited year-over-year growth. Maintaining customer
satisfaction levels and growing the business will require careful planning.
SAS
Products: SAS BookRunner Commodity Capture v.12, SAS BookRunner Analytics Workbench v.12
and SAS BookRunner Advanced Analytics v.12
In 2011, SAS delivered further enhancements to the BookRunner graphical user interface and the BI
capabilities of BookRunner, with respectable growth in terms of new customers (particularly among
utilities).
Strengths
SAS offers two options for analytical capabilities. A core level of position/risk analytics with
commodity-neutral deal capture for multiple physical and financial transaction types is provided
through BookRunner. BookRunner Advanced Analytics provides a more comprehensive set of
analytical tools, including a range of VaR reporting options, current and potential exposures,
scenario analysis, and sensitivity analysis.
For organizations that want to undertake a BI approach to risk and portfolio analysis, SAS is a
market leader in BI solutions. The SAS BookRunner approach and solutions could be of
particular value in situations requiring the consolidation of data from multiple trading platforms
for an aggregated view of risk and associated analytics.
Many organizations have SAS-trained programmers who could leverage BookRunner's open
application programming interface to customize the product and avoid paying substantial
professional services fees.
The provision of a physical asset optimization solution demonstrates an ability to leverage the
wider organizational capabilities of SAS, and provides value-adding functionality for asset-
heavy energy companies with diverse portfolios. A range of interface options is provided for
integration with internal/external applications and data sources.
The expansion of SAS ETRM solutions into the EU demonstrates the company's capability to
extend the geographical footprint of a solution.
SAS has demonstrated a solid understanding of the issues, risks and impacts associated with
regulatory and legislative developments, such as the Dodd-Frank Act.
Cautions
The extent of BookRunner support for physical operations remains less complete than many
other vendors in this Magic Quadrant. Third-party products will be required for scheduling,
nomination, shipping and transportation functionalities, and SAS is positioned to enable third-
party product interoperability, rather than native development.
The SAS-for-ETRM solution is SaaS-ready. However, SAS currently sees no client demand for
this deployment option.
Although SAS continues to demonstrate an ability to tackle complex analytical and reporting
functional requirements, much of this has been delivered on an as-needed basis, rather than as
out-of-the-box configurable application functionality. Ongoing productization remains part of
the SAS product road map.
SoftSmiths
Product: SoftSmiths TMS
Functionality added in 2011 included a redesigned user interface for SoftSmiths' ISO/RTO pricing
monitoring service featuring an overlay of weather conditions and a heat map and a dashboard
module with graphical representation of KPIs. Additional enhancements were made to the position
management application and the ISO/RTO scheduling and settlement suite.
Strengths
SoftSmiths maintains a good knowledge of North American markets. It is more suitable for
small and midsize North American utilities and load-serving utilities without resources.
Its lease-based solution is well-suited to small or midsize end users, or to companies seeking a
limited IT footprint solution for power.
The company offers robust logistical coverage for North American power and gas companies.
SoftSmiths has extensive integration capabilities through its e-Link modules.
Its SaaS solution has grown in favor among customers and is now the prominent delivery
method.
Cautions
SoftSmiths remains a small and privately held/funded company focused solely on North
American power and gas solutions.
Its solutions are only available in North American markets, and it doesn't have plans at the
moment to expand geographically.
Its market and credit risk facilities remain restricted to limit management, market-to-market,
credit exposure and position reporting.
SunGard
Products: Aligne 3.0 and Kiodex
SunGard's energy and commodities 2011 enhancements included the complete integration of its
global back office for all transaction types across Aligne and the release of Aligne Pipeline
Operations covering contracts, nominations, confirmations, scheduling, allocations and settlements/
accounting. 2011 also saw improvements to forward price curve production and management.
Strengths
SunGard remains particularly strong in physical/logistical areas of ETRM, and in power and
natural gas markets. The range and geographical coverage of the available solutions in these
markets are among the widest in this vendor group.
Consolidation of the various commodity-specific and risk management tools continues to be

developed under the Aligne architecture and a common reference data model, which have
greatly improved the fit of the various components, improved the overall flexibility of the
solution, and facilitated improved deployment times. SunGard offers hosted and managed
service options for Aligne installations.
SunGard has an extensive customer base in the energy sector and has further simplified its
product offering brands Aligne and the SaaS offering Kiodex. The use of standard
technology and SunGard IP for integration and user experience allows for greater configurability
and deployment options.
The company is supported by a substantial consulting/professional services function.
SunGard has a robust user community, and it actively identifies, promotes, prioritizes and, in
some cases, funds product development activities.
It has a substantial, long-standing track record in the energy and financial services industries,
with significant deployments of multi-asset-class trading and risk management platforms.
SunGard's support for emissions trading remains among the strongest of the vendors in this
Magic Quadrant.
Cautions
Although pre-Aligne legacy code streams will remain supported, and established migration
paths exist for Entegrate and GMS/GTMS users, legacy solution users may choose to examine
the value of migrating to the Aligne architecture, compared with a replacement solution.
SunGard solutions supporting crude and refined product operations remain behind much of the
competition.
The company continues to maintain separately branded products, regardless of the Aligne
brand. This continues to cause some market confusion and the potential for product/functional
overlap.
Although intending to streamline operations, staffing and management changes may create
communication issues for existing clients.
Triple Point Technology
Products: Commodity XL (power, gas, oil, coal, freight, biofuels, emissions, natural gas liquids
[NGLs], LNG, credit risk and fair value disclosure, and hedge accounting); Xchange (management
dashboard, strategic planning and procurement); MarketData Hub; Commodity SL (preintegrated
with SAP); Commodity XL Oracle (preintegrated with Oracle eBusiness Suite); and Visual Cockpit
(logistics solutions for bulk/liquids/packaged commodities, chartering and vessel operations, power
scheduling, and natural gas)
Triple Point Technology continued to grow in 2011 through sales and its acquisition of Qmastor,
which is commonly associated with mining applications. The Qmastor acquisition provides Triple
Point Technology with additional optimization and coal supply chain solutions. Additional
functionality in the areas of mobility (including a mobile management dashboard) and credit risk
management (including a new credit risk BI solution) is available, which reduces analysis times.
Strengths
Triple Point Technology has an extensive range of functional coverage in all aspects of energy/
commodity trading and risk management, with particularly solid support for risk management. It
continues to offer the most comprehensive credit risk management hedge accounting/IAS and
FASB compliance solutions in this Magic Quadrant, and demonstrates a deep understanding of
current regulatory and compliance issues, such as the implications of the Dodd-Frank Act.
It has many partnership arrangements from technology providers to SIs and professional
services firms and has participated in innovative projects, such as the use of Commodity XL
and Enerbility solutions to underpin a demand-side response initiative.
A range of deployment options, including ASP and a quick-start "lite" solution, provide flexibility
to suit larger international and smaller regional installations. ASP customer numbers continue to
grow, and there is a solid client base for this delivery option.
Through the Management Dashboard module, which is a decision support solution, users are
able to dig into the data structure of Commodity XL, and generate a range of custom reports
and analyses, without the need to learn a complicated scripting or interrogative tool. Decision
support capabilities were enhanced in 2011 with the arrival of the Credit Risk BI solution.
Market coverage and support are global, with an active user group providing input to product
development. The acquisition of Qmastor will provide further market opportunities to cross-sell
and upsell.
Triple Point Technology continues to demonstrate an ability to acquire and integrate specialist
solution providers quickly, having successfully completed the acquisition of Qmastor in 2011.
It has successfully leveraged relationships with many SIs and professional services firms to
extend its deployment and implementation capabilities.
Its architecture supports extensive integration, configuration and performance capabilities

(including Oracle Exa-Stack Ready, which is certified to Oracle high-performance database
applications), with all applications or modules sharing the same code base.
Cautions
Triple Point Technology's product suite is substantial in terms of functional scope, and it can be
overwhelming to first-time users.
Its support for physical energy asset optimization is less comprehensive than some of the
competition; however, the Qmastor acquisition provides optimization capabilities that could be
applied to generation and delivery assets.
Ventyx
Products: TRM v.5.0 and ETRM v.4.0
In 2011, Ventyx made the ETRM v.4.0 solution and the TRM v.5.0 solution available to the market.
The TRM v.5.0 solution is based on a former Siemens New Energy solution, and the ETRM v.4.0
solution is based on a former KWI/Global Energy Decisions solution. TRM is primarily focused on
U.S. markets, and ETRM is focused on the EU. Additional functionality has been delivered in areas
such as enhancement to PaR calculations, path-based power scheduling in the U.S. and an OLAP
cube reporting capability.
Strengths
Ventyx covers all aspects of the energy value chain for power from generation to distribution
and supply, and retail operations. It provides a range of solutions that are complementary to the
TRM solution (formerly known as Monaco, but rebranded to fit with other product lines), such as
generation optimization, asset management and load forecasting tools.
Its commodity coverage extends to power, natural gas, crude, coal and emissions. Most of its
installations are primarily power-oriented and natural-gas-oriented.
Ventyx's ETRM capabilities were largely gained through the acquisition of a number of
companies with strong histories in the ETRM/wholesale solution market, such as NewEnergy
Associates (formerly part of Siemens) and Global Energy Decisions (which acquired KWI and
Henwood Energy Services).
TRM and ETRM provide good coverage for risk management, and volumetric and delivery risk
analysis, as well as a range of market and credit risk measures and analytics. It caters to a wide
range of physical and financial transaction types.
Ventyx's Energy Portfolio Management trading and risk software is installed with an almost
equal split between EMEA and North American deployments.
Ventyx has an extensive range of partnership arrangements, including SIs and professional
services firms that provide installation and integration services around the TRM product.
Cautions
Despite a strong legacy of ETRM platform solutions, TRM and ETRM remain behind much of
the competition in terms of the depth and breadth of support for ETRM functions.
Ventyx doesn't have a SaaS offering; however, it has the capability to accommodate clients if
requested.
There have been no new clients of either solution in the past two years.
Vendors Added or Dropped
We review and adjust our inclusion criteria for Magic Quadrants and MarketScopes as markets
change. As a result of these adjustments, the mix of vendors in any Magic Quadrant or
MarketScope may change over time. A vendor appearing in a Magic Quadrant or MarketScope one
year and not the next does not necessarily indicate that we have changed our opinion of that
vendor. This may be a reflection of a change in the market and, therefore, changed evaluation
criteria, or a change of focus by a vendor.
Added
Brady (acquired Viz Risk Management)

Dropped
SolArc (acquired)
Viz Risk Management (acquired)

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
All analyses for this Magic Quadrant relate to vendor submissions that had to be provided as of
December 2011. ETRM platform vendors were considered for inclusion based on these criteria:
The offering must be software products developed and owned by the vendor, and intended
solely for energy and/or commodity trading and risk management.
The offering must be delivered via a traditional software license or ASP/SaaS business model.
A vendor must have at least 12 paying, unique institutions (energy companies or utilities) as
customers using its products for ETRM purposes, and must be able to demonstrate at least two
years of live implementations.
Products must be able to demonstrate:
Support for multiple commodities
Transaction/deal capture facilities
Logistics (for example, scheduling, nominations, balancing and transportation) facilities
Trader tools and analytics
Physical and financial position management and reporting
Risk management and reporting
STP (transaction to invoice)
The ability to integrate with enterprise applications

Exclusion Criteria
Vendors and products that did not sufficiently meet the specifics of the inclusion criteria, and
those that did not have a sufficient number of clients/implementations in the energy trading
area, were not considered for this Magic Quadrant.
Vendor service-based products or consulting-led offerings were not included, although we

recognize that IT and business services are an important element of ETRM solutions.
Magic Quadrant Vendors
From an initial pool of 16 vendors, 15 were originally selected for this Magic Quadrant based on
inclusion/exclusion criteria, client feedback, general industry visibility and relevant fit to the market.
However, as a result of sector consolidation, the initial list of 15 was reduced to 14. This reflects the
acquisition of SolArc by OpenLink and Brady's acquisition of Navita. Our survey requested
information about company size, distribution channels, financials, unit sales, product features/
functionalities, alliances and technical architectures. Additional input to the overall analysis came
from the Gartner client inquiry process. Vendors were advised that they would be ranked by having
their products compared against our criteria, and by our analyses of other vendors. Here are the
vendors and products included in this Magic Quadrant:
Allegro Development: Allegro v.8
Amphora: Symphony CS v.2.1 (trade capture and processing), Fleetime (waterborne

transportation and logistics for crude/products), Market Connector (exchange connectivity) and
LivePrices (imports settled prices to Symphony or third-party risk systems)
Aspect Enterprise Solutions: AspectCTRM LE (lite edition), SE (standard edition) and EE

(enterprise edition)
Brady: Elviz ETRM v.11.2
Murex: MX.3
Navita: Pomax ECTRM v.11.0 (core platform), Pomax TRM, Structuring Manager, various
commodity/regionally specific logistics modules, Curve Manager, and Broker Price Manager
OATI: webTrader (webTrader Power, webTrader Gas, webTrader Enterprise, webTrader Market,
webSettlement, webIntelligence) and webRisk
OpenLink Financial: Endur; pMotion/ESS, gMotion and cMotion modules; iOPT modules for
forecasting and optimization; vDesktop; RiskPak; Risk Dashboard; Tax Module; Hedge
Analyzer; Accounting Manager; Trade Process Manager; Collateral Management; Energy
Scenario Management; Reconciliation Module; Producer Services Module; Active Data
Services; standard gateways (for example, ICE, NYMEX, European Energy Exchange [EEX],
Trayport, Reuters and Bloomberg); dbc SMARTsoft (supporting the biofuels market); and SolArc
RightAngle v.11
Pioneer Solutions: TRMTracker, FASTracker, SettlementTracker and EmissionsTracker
SAS: SAS BookRunner Commodity Capture v.12, SAS BookRunner Analytics Workbench v.12
and SAS BookRunner Advanced Analytics v.12
SoftSmiths: SoftSmiths TMS
SunGard: Aligne 3.0 and Kiodex

Triple Point Technology: Commodity XL (power, gas, oil, coal, freight, biofuels, emissions,
NGLs, LNG, credit risk and fair value disclosure, and hedge accounting); Xchange (management
dashboard, strategic planning and procurement); MarketData Hub; Commodity SL
(preintegrated with SAP); Commodity XL Oracle (preintegrated with Oracle eBusiness Suite);
and Visual Cockpit (logistics solutions for bulk/liquids/packaged commodities, chartering and
vessel operations, power scheduling, and natural gas)
Ventyx: TRM v.5.0 and ETRM v.4.0

Vendors that had been considered for the 2012 ETRM Magic Quadrant update that were excluded:
Entero had insufficient data.
SolArc was acquired by OpenLink in November 2011. It is now included in the OpenLink
analysis.
Evaluation Criteria
Ability to Execute
This axis evaluates ETRM software application vendors on the quality and efficiency of the
processes, systems, methods or procedures that enable their performance to be competitive,
efficient and effective, and to positively affect revenue, retention and reputation. These software
application providers are judged on their ability and success in capitalizing on their vision. Our
evaluation of a vendor's Ability to Execute is based on these criteria (see Table 1):
Product/Service: The breadth and availability of the vendor's products that compete in and
serve the ETRM market.
Overall Viability: Product quality and consistency, as well as the vendor's financial strength,
including the likelihood of the continued investment in ETRM software for the financial services
industry, and advancing the state of the art within the provider's portfolio of products.
Sales Execution/Pricing: Capabilities of presales structures and management activities,

including pricing and negotiation, as well as the overall effectiveness of sales channels.
Market Responsiveness and Track Record: Ability and responsiveness to meet changing
market dynamics.
Marketing Execution: Market share in the global enterprise market.
Customer Experience: Ability to provide technical and relationship support and services that
drive customer satisfaction.
Operations: Effectiveness in meeting organizational goals and commitments.

Table 1. Ability to Execute Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Criteria Weighting
Product/Service High
Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial, Strategy, Organization) Standard
Sales Execution/Pricing Standard
Market Responsiveness and Track Record Standard
Marketing Execution Low
Customer Experience High
Operations Standard
Completeness of Vision
This axis evaluates ETRM application vendors on their ability to convincingly articulate logical
statements about current and future market directions, innovations, customer needs and
competitive forces, and on how well they map to the Gartner position. These application providers
are rated on their understanding of how market forces can be exploited to create opportunities. Our
evaluation of a vendor's Completeness of Vision is based on these criteria (see Table 2):
Market Understanding: Competitive position, market knowledge and mechanisms for

customer feedback.
Marketing Strategy: Ability to provide various professional services.
Sales Strategy: Ability to work with customers through the vendor's sales force and sales tools.
Offering (Product) Strategy: Strength of R&D, capability in product design and the vendor's
ability to offer image stability.
Business Model: Soundness and logic of the underlying business proposition.
Vertical/Industry Strategy: Ability to provide a vertical-specific product and service.
Innovation: Ability to have investment resources, expertise or capital for consolidation,

defensive or pre-emptive purposes.
Geographic Strategy: Ability to provide products and services globally.

Table 2. Completeness of Vision Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation Criteria Weighting
Market Understanding Standard
Marketing Strategy Standard
Sales Strategy High
Offering (Product) Strategy High
Business Model Standard
Vertical/Industry Strategy Standard
Innovation Low
Geographic Strategy Low
Quadrant Descriptions
Leaders
This quadrant tends to be occupied by vendors with applications that cover all core ETRM platform
requirements for all traded commodities within energy markets, extending coverage into key areas
such as market and credit risk management, logistics or portfolio/asset optimization. These vendors
have true global coverage, providing solutions to all major energy markets. In addition, these
vendors demonstrate established relationships with complementary product and service providers
in all regions, a well-defined corporate and marketing strategy, and strong financial viability.
Challengers
Typically, Challengers meet all core ETRM platform requirements, but may not have as extensive
geographical, commodity or functional coverage as Leaders do. Challengers often demonstrate
Leader-like qualities in specific areas, such as strong performance in a specific commodity or
functional area. A strong balance sheet and proven abilities in delivery and expansion in key
markets, through internal resources and external partnerships, are characteristics of Challengers in
this Magic Quadrant.
Visionaries
Visionaries may not have complete regional, commodity or functional coverage, or they may not
have as large a market share as Challengers or Leaders. They often take a unique and
commendable approach to areas such as strategy, marketing and pricing, delivery methods, or
functional specialization. Innovation of some sort is typically a quality demonstrated by vendors in
this quadrant. Visionaries can become Leaders by improving their ability to deliver and grow the
business.
Niche Players
This quadrant contains a number of regional or commodity-specific vendors. This quadrant typically
accommodates the vendors in these categories that have a proven track record in their specific
geographies or commodities covered. Typically, in this quadrant, we see vendors covering power
and natural gas, but not oil and refined products, or vice versa, and they have a relatively small
customer base compared with Challengers or Leaders.
Context
The buying and selling of power, natural gas, coal, crude oil, and refined products and emission-
related products are core functions for energy producers, consumers and market speculators. The
range of traded products associated with the buying and selling of these commodities is extensive
from simple buy-or-sell transactions in or near real time to ensure that delivery is met, to
complicated, structured contracts involving multiple commodities. Since the opening of the
wholesale U.S. natural gas market in the early 1990s, ETRM platforms have evolved to
accommodate an increasing range of commodities, as well as a diverse array of physical and
financial instruments, as markets deregulated.
The global energy and utilities market continues to be driven by a confluence of forces security of
supply and environmental concerns, ever-changing regulatory and legislative requirements, and the
quest for improved performance and profitable business models. Governments are addressing
security of supply and energy sustainability concerns through policies that promote investment in
clean technologies, and encourage consumers to deploy energy-efficient solutions, including
consumer-owned distributed energy resources. Consequently, energy and utilities companies are
regularly forced to modify their IT and operational technology application portfolios and
architectures to meet these challenges. ETRM platforms form a significant part of every energy and
utilities company's application portfolio, providing a solution to manage and optimize wholesale
energy market positions and risks. Changes in regulatory and legislative requirements, market
structures and end-user energy asset portfolios provide opportunities to improve and consolidate
these systems thus, the significance of this Magic Quadrant in helping end users make the right
selections for new or consolidated platforms.
Market Overview
An ETRM platform is a single or modular solution that is capable of capturing and managing
wholesale energy market transactions from execution to settlement, invoicing, managing, and
reporting market and credit exposures. For the purposes of this Magic Quadrant, we have taken a
global perspective, but have also included regional players fitting the inclusion criteria. Among the
ETRM platform vendors, four additional factors need to be considered:
Functional coverage or focus: Some vendors cover all areas in-depth, some are more focused
on the physical logistics of one or two commodities, and some focus on the risk management
aspect through proprietary models or a BI capability.
Commodity coverage: Some vendors cover all energy-related commodities and many other
commodities, and some cover only two or three energy-related commodities (see "Market
Definition: Energy Trading and Risk Management Platforms").
Geographical coverage: Some vendors cover all major markets in all geographies, and some
cover markets only in North America, EMEA or Asia/Pacific.
Deployment options: Increasingly, hosted or SaaS-based solutions are gaining favor among
end users as a means of reducing capital costs, deployment times and support overheads.
Traditionally, these solutions were preferred options for smaller end users or end users with
limited functional requirements; however, as the functional capabilities of SaaS- or ASP-based
deployments grow, the appeal to larger organizations will widen.
The market for ETRM platforms remains fragmented. Mergers and acquisitions among the vendors
(mostly privately owned) are an ongoing theme. Approximately 20 ETRM platform vendors offer
multicommodity solutions that are in line with the Gartner ETRM platform market definition (see
"Market Definition: Energy Trading and Risk Management Platforms"). The wider ETRM solution
ecosystem contains approximately 40 other vendors providing point solutions for specific issues
(such as market integration, market and/or credit risk management and analytics solutions, and
hedge accounting), generation and forecasting, or professional services (such as installation,
integration and training). The inclusion criteria for this Magic Quadrant are listed in the Inclusion and
Exclusion Criteria section.
Despite the fragmented nature of the ETRM platform market, the majority of core functional
requirements are met by the market leaders. The adoption of SOA has led to improved performance
and integration capabilities. Beyond the core ETRM platform requirements, in an attempt to
differentiate themselves, vendors are focusing their efforts on different areas, such as building:
Richer functional coverage in areas such as risk management (for example, real-time market
risk, cross-product/asset risk assessments and compliance with accounting rules)
The link between trading and upstream forecasting, and physical asset optimization
The physical or logistical aspects of trading
Architectural or graphical user interface improvements

Many vendors have developed solutions for the management of CO
2
emission certificate
inventories, allowing the ETRM platform to play a key role in the management of emission-related
positions. ETRM platforms are particularly suited to this kind of activity essentially paper trading.
As global concerns over greenhouse gas emissions intensify and as the global markets for CO
2
emission certificates, projects and related products grow they could lead to further evolution of
the ETRM platform.
2011 brought little change in the requirements driving new or replacement ETRM platform projects.
Financial, energy, regulatory and legislative developments (such as the Dodd-Frank Act in the U.S.)
continue to impact end-user deployment. However, one noteworthy market development has been
among the vendors. In the second half of 2011, the market leaders, OpenLink and Triple Point
Technology, both had a change of ownership. Additionally, both acquired businesses around the
same time. Triple Point Technology acquired Qmastor (more associated with mining) and OpenLink
acquired SolArc, extending the gap in terms of ETRM platform revenue from other ETRM vendors.
In March 2012, Brady the only publicly listed vendor in this Magic Quadrant acquired Navita,
becoming the largest European-based vendor in terms of revenue from ETRM platforms. The
consolidation we are now experiencing in the vendor market is revealing a bifurcation between
smaller, more transactionally oriented platforms and full-service providers. Either group has
something of value to offer the market, but we do not believe the smaller vendors will be able to
close the competitive gap through organic growth.
A noteworthy development in 2011 has been an increasing desire among end users to reduce the
complexity and costs associated with the ongoing development and support of ETRM platform
deployments. Through inquiries from clients during the past year, sourcing is becoming a more
significant issue, with more end users now receptive to the idea of outsourcing the ongoing support
and development of their deployments to the original vendors or SIs. The market supporting this is
immature, which we expect will change as a result of the rising demand.
The market for ETRM platform solutions is more fragmented than markets for established
administrative solutions, such as customer information systems or general ledger systems. The
reasons for this fragmentation and the consequently wide range of vendors include regional
and regulatory market variations, the range of end-user requirements, and the extent and rapidity of
market change. Some businesses, such as investment banks and hedge funds, focus more on
financial trading (see "Magic Quadrant for Financial Services Commodity Trading and Risk
Management Platforms"). Some other businesses, such as load-servicing entities meeting demand
or load requirement needs, focus more on physical delivery aspects. Industrial end users (for
example, airlines involved in fuel hedging) focus on optimizing energy procurement. All participants
transact with third parties directly with a counterparty, and/or via exchanges or brokers. These
transactions must be managed from execution through physical delivery to invoicing and
settlement. Furthermore, all market participants must manage positions in all their traded
commodities, which means monitoring market price movements and counterparty status, and
tracking the impact of many variables on the current and future value of contracts, assets, trading
books, and the entire portfolio. These common functions are the domain of the ETRM platform.
The complexities of the ETRM marketplace increase the need for careful installation and
configuration to achieve sustainable project success. Based on our research and anecdotal
evidence, installation times will range from a minimum of three months for a small-scale or single-
commodity SaaS solution to 18 months or more for a multicommodity or multinational deployment.
No two ETRM platform installations are the same. There is a wide variety of energy portfolio
elements, and how they are modeled and valued varies across market participants. When
purchasing or replacing an ETRM platform, buyers must recognize that the configuration of the
platform to accommodate internal views of asset modeling and valuation will require translation into
the configuration screens or scripting tools of the new platform. Some end users rely on third-party
SIs to undertake much of this work (see "Energy Trading and Risk Management Solutions: Getting
the Most Out of System Integrators"), and some end users train internal resources. Either way, this
is a critical activity.
Another key concern is that, although ETRM platforms will cover much of the wholesale energy
commercial process, it is likely that a new installation will require extensive integration with existing
internal systems from financial systems to spreadsheets and other legacy commodity
management tools, and from external data sources for price and market data to exchanges for
transaction execution. The establishment or enhancement of an enterprise information management
strategy and solution to cope with the number, frequency and time-critical nature of ETRM
interfaces is key to success (see "Tactical and Strategic Options for Improving Market Data
Management").
Many factors continue to influence the ETRM platform market not the least of which includes the
general economic climate, such as the eurozone crisis in 2011. Some of these factors, in no
particular order, are:
A continuing interest in widening the use of simulation and scenario-based analytics ("what if"
analysis)
The desire to reduce the ongoing costs and risks associated with multiple commodity platforms
Greater and more-varied connectivity to trading markets
Continued globalization of commodity and energy markets
Increasing correlation between commodities for example, burning fuel to produce power also
produces emissions
Linking trading operations to physical asset optimization for example, optimizing power
generation across asset types (coal, gas, wind, solar and nuclear) based on physical
constraints, the weather and market parameters
The need for deeper, more responsive risk management capabilities and a holistic view of risk
across the enterprise
Responding to tightening regulatory and legislative reporting requirements
Widening the asset types (such as new forms of power generation or energy storage) to be
modeled and valued
Another factor influencing the ETRM platform market is a widening of the type of market participant.
As a result of the recent financial crisis, many hedge funds that once traded energy in forward
markets are no longer doing so. However, increasingly, banks and investment companies are taking
a more active position in physical markets, as well as forward markets. As energy markets become
increasingly politicized and volatile, and as energy-related developments attract government
subsidies and the interest of the wider investment community, we can expect the nature of energy
market participants to widen and their number to increase.
Recommended Reading
Some documents may not be available as part of your current Gartner subscription.
"Magic Quadrants and MarketScopes: How Gartner Evaluates Vendors Within a Market"
"Energy Trading and Risk Management Solutions: Getting the Most Out of System Integrators"
"Market Definition: Energy Trading and Risk Management Platforms"
"Tactical and Strategic Options for Improving Market Data Management"
"Cloud-Based Energy Trading and Risk Management Won't Take Off Until Legacy Issues Are
Addressed"
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Industry Research

Integration: An ETRM platform's integration capabilities with internal solutions (such as

Amphora does not offer a software as a service (SaaS) solution

There is no direct access to major electronic marketplaces/exchanges from AspectCTRM,

Its changed business model from a license-oriented, professional-services-supported offering

It continues to demonstrate the ability to tackle new energy-market-related challenges for

Support for carbon dioxide (CO

Pomax can be purchased under a traditional perpetual license, or it can be a lease-based

Navita offers attractive pricing in comparison to its larger competitors.

Navita is predominantly a supplier to European-based companies. Efforts to expand in the U.S.

Extensions of and enhancements to OpenLink's product lines are continual.

Its solution is keenly priced against the competition.

SoftSmiths has extensive integration capabilities through its e-Link modules.

Consolidation of the various commodity-specific and risk management tools continues to be

The company is supported by a substantial consulting/professional services function.

Its architecture supports extensive integration, configuration and performance capabilities

Brady (acquired Viz Risk Management)

Viz Risk Management (acquired)

Support for multiple commodities

Transaction/deal capture facilities

Logistics (for example, scheduling, nominations, balancing and transportation) facilities

Trader tools and analytics

Physical and financial position management and reporting

Risk management and reporting

STP (transaction to invoice)

The ability to integrate with enterprise applications

Vendor service-based products or consulting-led offerings were not included, although we

Allegro Development: Allegro v.8

Amphora: Symphony CS v.2.1 (trade capture and processing), Fleetime (waterborne

Aspect Enterprise Solutions: AspectCTRM LE (lite edition), SE (standard edition) and EE

Brady: Elviz ETRM v.11.2

Pioneer Solutions: TRMTracker, FASTracker, SettlementTracker and EmissionsTracker

SoftSmiths: SoftSmiths TMS

SunGard: Aligne 3.0 and Kiodex

Ventyx: TRM v.5.0 and ETRM v.4.0

Entero had insufficient data.

Sales Execution/Pricing: Capabilities of presales structures and management activities,

Marketing Execution: Market share in the global enterprise market.

Operations: Effectiveness in meeting organizational goals and commitments.

Market Understanding: Competitive position, market knowledge and mechanisms for

Marketing Strategy: Ability to provide various professional services.

Business Model: Soundness and logic of the underlying business proposition.

Vertical/Industry Strategy: Ability to provide a vertical-specific product and service.

Innovation: Ability to have investment resources, expertise or capital for consolidation,

Geographic Strategy: Ability to provide products and services globally.

The physical or logistical aspects of trading

Architectural or graphical user interface improvements

Greater and more-varied connectivity to trading markets

Continued globalization of commodity and energy markets

Responding to tightening regulatory and legislative reporting requirements

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