Panopticon Software

Infobox Company
name = Panopticon Software

type = Private
genre =
foundation = Stockholm, Sweden (1999)
founder = Willem De Geer
location_city = Stockholm
location_country = Sweden
location =
locations = 3
area_served = North America, Europe
key_people =
industry = Computer software
products = Panopticon Explorer, Panopticon Enterprise, Panopticon Developer
services =
market c

revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
assets =
equity =
owner =
num_employees =
parent =
divisions =
subsid =
homepage = [http://www.panopticon.com/ Panopticon.com]
footnotes =
intl =

Panopticon Software is a multi-national Visual business intelligence company head quartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with additional offices in London and New York, and a re-seller agreements for other markets such a Japan. The company's name is derived from the Greek: 'pan' for all, 'optic' for sight.

Panopticon Software is a one of the handful of players in the Visual business intelligence sector along with Qliktech, Tableau and Spotfire. [citation
url = http://www.it-analysis.com/business/content.php?cid=9318
title = Oracle targets CFOs with Hyperion acquisition] Its Swedish origins are shared with GapMinder, Qliktech and Spotfire, making Sweden a centre for Information Visualization.

It has historically specialised in selling Treemapping visualisation software and development tools to clients within the financial industry. [citation
url = http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/treemap-history/
title = Treemaps for space-constrained visualization of hierarchies] [citation
url = http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/~kerwin/treemap-survey.html
title = Survey of treemap techniques] and is a regular exibitor at financial industry events such as SIFMA, and SIA. [citation
url = http://events.sifma.org/conf_vendors/vendorLookup.aspx?CID=107&VENDORID=330
title = SIFMA's Technology Management Conference 2008 | SIFMA Event] [citation
url = http://events.sifma.org/conferencevendors/vendorLookup.aspx?CID=07TMC&VENDORID=7056
title = 2007 Technology Management Conference and Exhibit] [citation
url = http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2005/Jun/20/Panopticon_Enterprise_.Net_To_be_launched_at_SIA_New_York.html
title = Panopticon Enterprise .Net To be launched at SIA New York]

History

The company was originally founded in 1999 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Emerging Markets brokerage named Brunswick Direct before being spun off in 2002. [citation
url = http://www.panopticon.com/company/
title = About Panopticon] It later was acquired by the UK based Hamsard Group (Hamsard is now known as Cantono Plc), and became a subsidiary of the Group. [citation
url = http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2005/05/18/210041/aim-float-to-raise-3m-for-hamsard.htm
title = AIM float to raise £3m for Hamsard] In March 2007 its competitor Spotfire undertook negotiations with Hamsard Group, to take full owership of Panopticon. [citation
url = http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200703071415035170S
title = Cantono PLC (CTNO) - Proposed disposal, EGM notice] This potential deal failed to complete, [citation
url = http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200704120801527352U
title = Cantono PLC (CTNO) - - Debt for Equity Conv and EGM] Spotfire pulling out of negotiations, and itself subsequently being purchased by Tibco. [citation
url = http://www.tibco.com/company/spotfire/default.jsp
title = TIBCO and Spotfire] In May 2007 the company was sold back to its founders as part of a management buyout. [citation
url = http://www.advfn.com/news_Final-Results_23551865.html
title = Final Results CANTONO PLC]

In October 2007 the company appointed Brian O'Keafe as Product Director. Brian had previously held position of Director of Financial Analytics at Spotfire. [citation
url = http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2007/Nov/13/Brian_O%27Keefe_Joins_Panopticon_as_Director_of_Product_Management.html
title = Brian O'Keefe Joins Panopticon as Director of Product Management] In December 2007 the company elected a new board, including Carl Palmstierna, a former partner with Goldman Sachs and John Wattin, previously Chairman of MySQL AB. [citation
url = http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2007/Dec/10/Panopticon_Shareholders_Elect_New_Board_of_Directors.html
title = Panopticon Shareholders Elect New Board of Directors]

Pre-attentive processing

The visualizations that Panopticon offers within its VBI products attempt to optimise the individual's pre-attentive processing capacity in order for them to comprehend large multi-element datasets in less than 250 milliseconds. [citation
url = http://www.panopticon.com/visualizations/
title = Panopticon: The Power of Pre-Attentive Processing] Pre-Attentive Processing is an area of human cognitive psychology which refers to the ability of the low-level human visual system to rapidly identify certain basic visual properties. Examples of visual features that can be detected in this way include hue, intensity, orientation, size, and motion. [citation
url = http://www.csc.ncsu.edu/faculty/healey/PP/index.html
title = Perception in Visualization]

Technology overview

Panopticons technology relies on in-memory OLAP cubes which are displayed through a series of vizualizations including treemaps. This allows the user to load data, select variables and hierchical structures, and navigate through the resultant visualization, filtering, zooming and drilling (sometimes called slicing and dicing), to identify outlyers, correlations and trends.

Its streaming OLAP implementation, takes an in-memory OLAP cube and allows data to be streamed through it, which ally its products to industry verticals that require live streaming data, such as financial Market data, and Utility grid monitoring. This is unlike the majority of existing OLAP implementations where cubes are rebuild periodically for new batches of data. [citation
url = http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jun2006/pi20060608_043514.htm
title = Be Your Own Rocket Scientist] [citation
url = http://magmasystems.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html
title = Magma Systems Blog]

This support for streaming data with its products has allowed financial institutions such as JPMorgan Chase, [citation
url = http://www.windowsfs.com/TheMag/tabid/54/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/2123/Default.aspx
title = JPMorgan and Windows Customers Sway Visualization Vendor Toward .NET] Citigroup, [citation
url = http://db.riskwaters.com/public/showPage.html?validate=0&page=dwt_login&url=%2Fpublic%2FshowPage.html%3Fpage%3D428584
title = Citi Mulls Wider Use of Imaging App] Bear Stearns, [citation
url = http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=47390500-6EEE-4452-8F94-CCE07F5C561D
title = Bear Stearns implements tree mapping software from Panopticon] and Fortis (finance) [citation
url = http://www.watersonline.com/public/showPage.html?page=788666
title = Analyze This] to implement the Panopticon Products within their real-time trading and risk applications.
Euromoney has stated that it provides the trader community with a way of quickly digesting information. [citation
url = http://www.euromoney.com/Article/1000597/Category/16/ChannelPage/8959/Panopticon-closes-deals-with-Reuters.html
title = Panopticon Closes Deal with Reuters]

Product overview

Panopticon has three platform independent product lines. Its desktop, enterprise server, and SDKs in both Java language and .NET Framework.

* Panopticon Explorer .Net, with streaming connectivity to Microsoft Excel, Bloomberg Terminal, [citation
url = http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2007/Nov/6/Panopticon_Information_Visualization_Software_Now_Supports_Real-Time_Streaming_Data_from_Bloomberg.html
title = Panopticon Information Visualization Software Now Supports Real-Time Streaming Data from Bloomberg] Reuters and MQ, [citation
url = http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2007/Jun/19/Panopticon_Releases_New_Real_Time_Connection%e2%80%93_Supports_fast_connections_to_streaming_data_from_Sonic_MQ_and_Reuters_%e2%80%93.html
title = Panopticon Releases New Real Time Connection– Supports fast connections to streaming data from Sonic MQ and Reuters] and with static connectivity to relational databases such as Oracle and external OLAP cubes.
* Panopticon Enterprise .Net & Java integrated with Lightstreamer [citation
url = http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2008/Feb/4/Lightstreamer_to_ship_with_Panopticon_Enterprise.html
title = Lightstreamer to ship with Panopticon Enterprise] for streaming connectivity, and relational databases for static connectivity.
* Panopticon Developer .Net and Java.

A number of different visualizations of data are provided including:
* Treemap
* Stack Graph, effectively showing treemaps across time. [citation
url = http://www.panopticon.com/visualizations/stack_graph.htm
title = See how components contribute to totals with Stack Graphs]
* Bar Series. A trellis of bar charts. [citation
url = http://www.panopticon.com/visualizations/barseries.htm
title = Visualize and compare Trends with Bar Series.]
* Horizons. Time Series. [citation
url = http://www.panopticon.com/visualizations/horizon.htm
title = Visualize Multiple Datasets and Compare Trends with Horizon Graphs]

Awards

Its technology when adopted by financial institutions has led to recognition from financial industry periodicals such as:
* The Banker (Bear Stearns, Citi) [citation
url = http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2006/Jun/16/Panopticon%e2%80%99s_Visual_Business_Intelligence_wins_The_Banker_awards.html
title = Panopticon’s Visual Business Intelligence wins The Banker awards]
* Euromoney (JP Morgan Chase, UBS). [citation
url = http://www.panopticon.com/company/awards.htm
title = Award Winning Implementations]

Joint ventures and strategic alliances

Its technology is embedded in several firms' product offerings including:
Reuters, [citation
url = http://www.pressemeldinger.no/read.asp?RecNo=7117
title = Panopticon Signs Enterprise Wide Contract With Reuters] [citation
url = http://www.windowsfs.com/TheMag/tabid/54/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1414/JPMorgan-Reuters-Map-Out-Data-Views.aspx
title = JPMorgan, Reuters Map Out Data Views] Deltek, an Enterprise Project Management Solution Provider, [citation
url = http://www.deltek.com/company/pressroom/showfullstory.asp?show=348&YR=2006
title = Deltek and Panopticon Forge Partnership] Advent Software, a Financial Solution Provider, [citation
url = http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2008/Jan/29/Advent_Software_Signs_OEM_Agreement_with_Panopticon.html
title = Advent Software Signs OEM Agreement with Panopticon] Kynetix, A solutions provider to Asset Managers and Hedge Funds, [citation
url = http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2004/Nov/3/Kynetix_signs_reseller_agreement_with_Panopticon.html
title = Kynetix signs reseller agreement with Panopticon] TBricks, a Algorithmic trading Solutions Provider [citation
url = http://www.a-teamgroup.com/article/tbricks-launches-next-dimension-automated-trading-system/
title = Tbricks Launches Next Dimension Automated Trading System] and Polystar a Telecoms Solutions Provider. [citation
url = http://www.polystar.com/Company/Newsroom/News-archive/3856/
title = Polystar OSIX and Panopticon form strategic alliance focusing on the telecom market - Operators worldwide can now benefit from Panopticon’s visualisation tools] Its products are also resold in Japan through Lightstone. [citation
url = http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2006/Apr/19/Visual_Business_Intelligence_heads_for_Japan.html
title = Visual Business Intelligence heads for Japan] [citation
url = http://www.lightstone.co.jp/products/panopticon/explorer/index.htm
title = Panopticon - Visual Business Intelligence]

External links

* [http://www.panopticon.com/ Panopticon's Official Website]

References