VistaSource Helps Power Williams Energy Marketing & Trading

The pulse of the world's energy economy is clearly felt on the 21,000 square-foot energy trading floor at Williams Energy Marketing & Trading (EM&T), one of the most profitable energy marketers in the U.S., with headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Williams EM&T energy trading floor handles approximately $75 billion in energy transactions per year. During 2000, Williams EM&T marketed over 141,300 physical gigawatt hours of power, 3.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, and 901,000 barrels of physical crude oil and petroleum products per day. In seven years, the trading floor has grown from 20 seats to 500. Opening in May 2001, a new London trading floor will mirror the capabilities of the technologically advanced floor in Tulsa.

An impressive array of technology powers the Williams EM&T trading floor, including real time analytical software tools from VistaSource, formerly a subsidiary of Applix Inc. "The VistaSource real time spreadsheet (formerly known as Applixware) is being used as a position and price risk management tool for energy commodities," says Joel McKnight, director of risk management systems at Williams EM&T. "It is used to help manage our positions and help price our options. Our traders use several instruments to do their trading. The traders will have their position and pricing models and watch them while monitoring the exchange. All this data is going right into the VistaSource real time spreadsheet."

Williams EM&T uses VistaSource's Anyware RealTime Spreadsheets instead of more traditional office-suite spreadsheet software for risk management analytics. The VistaSource solution is optimized specifically for real time data retrieval and analysis, making it ideal for use at Williams EM&T. "We're better able to control changes to our models using the VistaSource spreadsheet instead of Excel," continues McKnight. "In Excel, macros are tied to a particular spreadsheet, but with Anyware RealTime Spreadsheets, macros can be shared and put into a protected area where they can't be changed."

Performance and reliability are critical in this environment, where VistaSource RealTime Spreadsheets must process large volumes of real time market data from a number of feeds. "With every real time tick, we want to see what it does to the traders position," adds McKnight. "My experience is that the VistaSource tools are more reliable, robust and performance oriented than Excel. We run the real time spreadsheet on the Sun Solaris platform, and are able to go for months without having to reboot. The traders lose money if their tools are unavailable. Support from VistaSource has been excellent. That is as important to an IT director as the quality of the product itself."

About Williams Energy Marketing & Trading

A top-tier, fully integrated energy marketer, Williams Energy Marketing & Trading buys, sells and transports a full suite of energy commodities. Our commodity offerings include natural gas, electricity, crude oil, refined products and natural gas liquids, as well as an extensive menu of price-risk management services to the diverse energy industry. Our customers include local distribution companies, utilities, municipalities, rural electric cooperatives and large industrial customers throughout North America. Our 21,000 square-foot energy trading floor is one of the largest of its kind in the United States and handles approximately $75 billion in energy transactions per year. A top 10 power marketer, we trade power around the clock. We also trade natural gas in every major basin market. EM&T also is a regional player in the crude oil and refined products arena and is a profile player (top three) in the NGLs marketplace.

About VistaSource Inc

VistaSource Inc is a subsidiary of Parallax Capital Partners LLC. Headquartered in Westboro, MA, VistaSource is a leading provider of real-time, Web-enabled, customizable data and document integration solutions. VistaSource was formed in April of 2000 during the first phase of a spin-out process from the former owners, Applix Inc. This process was initiated to separate the real time and server-centric applications business from the Applix customer relationship management business, forming two separate, independent companies. The purchase of VistaSource by Parallax Capital Partners in March 2001 completed this process. In May 2001, VistaSource extended its reach to the financial market by reopening its sales office in New York City.

Since its birth in Applix, VistaSource has found much success with its Applixware line of products, which includes a comprehensive suite of office components for non-Windows and thin-client environments, a development environment for the creation of custom applications and an option for the connection to and analysis of real-time data. The Applixware line has recently re-branded as "Anyware" to highlight the Web-enabled capabilities of the family, which enables the creation of and access to documents and solutions from any browser, anytime. Anyware RealTime, Data, and Spreadsheets are a standard on Wall Street trading floors and used by financial powerhouses across the globe. More information can be found at www.AnywareRealTime.com.

Contact Allison Antalek, VistaSource Inc, 508-986-1000 x389, aantalek@vistasource.com.