Abacus Group, a provider of hosted IT solutions for hedge funds and private equity funds, closed out 2012 with 100 per cent annual revenue growth.
In addition, the company has doubled its client base in the last 12 months, propelled by demand for its scalable, cost-effective AbacusFLEX private cloud solution.
Today’s market environment continues to impose new cost pressures and regulatory demands on asset managers, forcing top-tier, new and emerging hedge funds and private equity funds to identify new methods to better allocate IT resources and lower operating costs while still adding measurable value.
As a result, more and more funds are choosing Abacus as a partner for their IT services, deploying the AbacusFLEX platform to run all their IT as a service in the most cost-effective manner available. AbacusFLEX offers the flexibility to host any application, the scalability to add resources as needed, and the assurance that data is always available, secure and protected.
Other key milestones for Abacus over the past 12 months include:
• Launch of StorageBurst, a scalable, on-demand service that offers hedge funds a highly available, secure and redundant platform to store large amounts of data off-site. Offering flexible disaster recovery and archiving options, StorageBurst helps funds easily store and back up tick level data to meet regulatory requirements, easily scale to accommodate changing business needs, and reduce storage costs
• Introduction of AbacusVoice, a fully-managed voice solution that offers the convenience of a hosted turnkey solution with always-on technical support, eliminating the need to invest in on-site systems and maintenance staff
• Partnerships with key technology providers, including SS&C Technologies, to provide investment firms hosting their platforms on the AbacusFLEX private cloud with a turnkey global FIX connectivity service that integrates with existing systems and functionality
• Successful completion of the Type 2 Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements Certification (SSAE16); Abacus is the first private cloud provider for hedge funds to actively hold both that and the Statement on Auditing Standard (SAS) 70 audit, as part of its ongoing commitment to providing clients with the highest levels of security and reliability
• Recognition in the top 50 of MSPmentor’s Top 501 Managed Service Providers, and one of the Talkin’ Cloud 100 top cloud service providers
• Continued expansion into new data centres, including the newly opened Equinix NY5 data centre facility in Secaucus, NJ, with a strong focus in the financial sector; Abacus now hosts in four geographically disperse facilities, enabling increased redundancy and high availability
“It was critical to us to work with a provider that understands our business, and could deliver secure and flexible infrastructure. We were also conscious about emerging regulatory requirements, and needed a provider that could help us archive and access data we might need to comply,” says Brian Kessler, chief financial officer and chief compliance officer, Tourbillon Capital Partners.
“Abacus’ sustained growth is a testament to our industry expertise and knowledge of hedge funds’ unique challenges,” says Chris Grandi, chief executive of Abacus. “Private cloud adoption will likely continue to rise as funds take advantage of the performance and economic benefits that enable them to scale more effectively, run operations more efficiently and focus on their core business.”
