Private equity start-up

3 October 2008

When two former executives at a leading hedge fund decided to start their own company, they were faced with a critical decision on whether to build an in-house IT infrastructure, or to simply use software as a service. Furthermore, they had just purchased custom software that performed accounting and reporting functions specific to their business.

The IT requirements for the start-up consisted of 24/7 availability of the Microsoft Office Suite with Microsoft Exchange and e-mail for five users, as well as set-up and configuration of the newly acquired custom software on a dedicated SQL Server database.

Within one year following the launch of the company, it required a mirrored back-up data centre environment with full redundancy and availability. The company executives decided that their IT requirements would be best served via an outsourcing application service provider model with Penta.

Penta’s solution consisted of the set-up of a dedicated Citrix server in its Geneva data centre, with the foundation to scale to a mirrored environment at a secondary data centre. The dedicated server was installed with Microsoft Exchange and Office Professional. On behalf of the client, Penta also worked with the accounting and reporting software vendor to configure and install the firm’s proprietary software onto a dedicated SQL Server database.

The entire IT infrastructure was deployed within one month, freeing up time for other start-up functions. Custom software was configured and installed on a networked SQL Server database server, allowing for secure access from any location. This permitted the company executives to monitor their clients’ portfolios well before the company had officially opened for business. Additionally, Penta became the point of contact with the custom software vendor; handling all future upgrades, renewals and maintenance.

The company gained another added value – this time in the form of compliance. Penta’s compliance with the new SEC Rule 240.17a-4 (making it mandatory to have a complete e-mail archiving and retrieving solution) enabled the company to be in observance with all SEC, FINRA and NYSE regulatory requirements.

Furthermore, by saving up to 50 per cent of projected start-up IT costs, the company managed to hire an additional analyst – a position that was not budgeted until the second year of operations.