Back in the summer of 1997, MP3 players, cell phone cameras, and DVD movies didn’t exist. Tiger Woods had yet to win his first Masters. The Dow hovered around 8,000. And “the year 2000” was a phrase associated primarily with science fiction.

That July, Pershing went live with a revolutionary new brokerage platform called NetExchange Pro®, propelling the science of information access and retrieval into the 21st century. Today, NetExchange Pro provides investment professionals with 24/7 access to an ever-expanding universe of account information, quotes, research, tools, and news content. It’s an incredibly powerful and flexible brokerage platform that, from its first days, has expanded exponentially in terms of breadth, depth, and scope.

“By the mid-90s, the financial services universe was changing at a dizzying pace,” recalls Suresh Kumar, Chief Information Off icer at Pershing. “The planet was shrinking, information was moving at mach speed, and even small-town investment professionals were confronting the need to compete globally. If there was ever an idea whose time had come, it was NetExchange Pro.”

"NetExchange Pro keeps gettign better and better"

NetExchange Pro didn’t happen in a vacuum. Back in the days of green screens and computer applications measured in kilobytes, Pershing looked ahead and saw how the Internet could help you not only manage the information explosion, but also harness it to build your business, improve service delivery, and sharpen your competitive edge. NetExchange Pro was the direct outgrowth of this visionary approach.

90,000 Users—and Growing
There were 5,500 users by the end of 1998; by 2000, there were 22,500; and today NetExchange Pro is used by more than 90,000 investment professionals throughout the world.

As NetExchange Pro’s user base expanded, so did its capabilities. Two years after the 1997 debut of NetExchange Pro, the platform shifted from web to Windows®, thus adding a significant measure of reliability, speed, and flexibility. 2001 saw the launch of NetExchange Pro Mobile®, which provided users with anytime/anywhere access to client and market information. NetExchange Pro 3.0, which arrived in 2004, added improved customization ability and userfriendliness, dramatically improved screen designs, faster access, streamlined communications, and a host of other major enhancements. “Version 3.0 represented the most significant redesign of the NetExchange Pro platform to date,” says Cheryl Mills, Director of technology delivery.

New Applications, New Tools, New Content
In its earliest form, NetExchange Pro was largely about account and trading information. As it evolved, it was enriched and expanded through the constant addition of exciting new applications, tools, and content.

In its current version, NetExchange Pro helps investment professionals manage and build their businesses in a variety of ways:

• Integration. Access research, financial planning tools, news, market data, and trading information all from a single platform.
• Personalization. Tailor screens, navigation, and data display to suit your individual work style.
• Superior user experience. Perform the tasks necessary to build your business—more efficiently and easily than ever.
• Increased productivity. Use a battery of online tools to accelerate operational tasks.
• Streamlined communications. Rapidly learn—and share information—about events and regulations that affect clients’ accounts.
• Multiple access points. Access NetExchange Pro using a Windows or web-based version, or via a wireless device.

Content, of course, is the heart of NetExchange Pro. Premium content adds a broad array of information resources from leading providers.

A Wealth of New Features
Meanwhile, NetExchange Pro keeps getting better and better. In the three years since the rollout of NetExchange Pro 3.0, Pershing has added a number of important features. They include:

• Items for Attention enable investment professionals to monitor and respond quickly to a range of important activities affecting client accounts, including account transfers, corporate actions, and outstanding margin requirements.
• Home Office Messages turn NetExchange Pro into an incredibly powerful medium of mass communication. Forget sending individual e-mails: Home Office Messages let you reach out to your entire client base faster and more efficiently via messages posted on the NetExchange Pro home page.
• QuickTrade employs a simplified, intuitive new trading screen to vastly simplify equity and option orders, enabling you to move through transactions much faster and more easily than ever before—with absolutely no compromise on accuracy.
• Multiple Report Capability means you can search for and select multiple reports and combine them into a single document.

In the broad sweep of history, 10 years is just an eye blink. But in the world of technology, 10 years is an epoch. Over the past decade, NetExchange Pro has emerged as the most powerful and versatile brokerage platform in the financial services industry. But progress never stops. Stay tuned for continued improvements to this critical business tool.