Tim Gunn

According to Net Energy's Chief Executive Officer, Tim Gunn, traders within the market have gone from managing and executing one transaction at a time via traditional voice calls to conducting as many as 90 simultaneous text-based ‘conversational-transactions,' facilitated by Jabber XCP. Conversational-transactions are financial deals initiated, negotiated, and completed within the context of an instant messaging (IM) or text conferencing session.

"In commodities markets, such as energy, the value of information has a rapidly diminishing half-life," said Gunn.

"Every energy company in North America is on I.M.; it is such a convenient way to distribute information," said Tim Gunn, the chief executive of NetEnergy, an energy brokerage in Calgary, Alberta, who brokers trades between customers using instant messaging.

"Every energy company in North America is on IM; it is such a convenient way to distribute information," said Tim Gunn, the chief executive of NetEnergy, an energy brokerage in Calgary, Alberta, who brokers trades between customers using instant messaging.

Net Energy CEO Tim Gunn said that traders have gone from managing and executing one transaction at a time via traditional voice calls to conducting as many as 90 simultaneous text-based 'conversational-transactions,' facilitated by Jabber XCP.Conversational-transactions are financial deals initiated, negotiated, and completed within the context of an instant messaging (IM) or text conferencing session.

"In commodities markets, such as energy, the value of information has a rapidly diminishing half-life," said Gunn.

According to Net Energy's Chief Executive Officer, Tim Gunn, traders within the market have gone from managing and executing one transaction at a time via traditional voice calls to conducting as many as 90 simultaneous text-based 'conversational-transactions,' facilitated by Jabber XCP.Conversational-transactions are financial deals initiated, negotiated, and completed within the context of an instant messaging (IM) or text conferencing session.

"In commodities markets, such as energy, the value of information has a rapidly diminishing half-life," said Gunn.

"I didn't realise that all energy traders are using instant messaging on a daily basis," says Tim Gunn, chief executive at NetEnergy, an energy exchange based in Alberta, Canada.

Gunn, who set up NetEnergy after working at other exchanges in the region, explains that using instant messaging is a way of life for busy traders who need to conduct many conversations simultaneously.With some traders having as many as 90 instant messaging sessions on the desktop at once, he became concerned that conversations were not being logged.

Gunn began using the Jabber instant messaging server and client software, which logs conversations automatically.Jabber can also create machine-to-person instant messages, which Gunn is now using to confirm trades automatically.