Think about the timing and telemetry screens at a Formula 1 Grand Prix, one of the most critical and visible elements of the race. These screens flash lap times, sector splits, tire changes, pit stop durations, and driver positions in real time. Imagine how chaotic a race would be without this data, teams wouldn’t know when to pit, drivers wouldn’t gauge their pace, and fans would lose track of the action.
But the timing system is just one part of the sport. There’s the track, the pit lane, the garages, the cars’ engineering systems, and the circuit facilities -all essential to keeping the race running smoothly.
Now picture your commodity or energy risk trading (‘C/ETRM’) software as the timing and telemetry system in a Formula 1 race. It’s not just tracking a handful of drivers—it’s managing terabytes of data: price fluctuations, market positions, trade volumes, and risk metrics, all moving at breakneck speed. To handle this intensity and volume, the rest of the ‘circuit infrastructure’—your servers, data pipelines, integrations, and analytics—must be top-tier. If any part lags or fails, the telemetry goes offline, the race grinds to a halt, and you’re left spinning in the pits.
Robert Parker is an expert in C/ETRM and has worked with more than sixty clients in his decade at capSpire. In the F1 analogy, Rob is the expert, long-standing team principal, and to keep the timing and telemetry screens lit, he has a lot of work to do behind the scenes.
“Being an ETRM software expert is not just about understanding the product,” says Rob, “it’s also understanding the entire underlying technology that it operates on.” Factors like database and server configuration, authentication, cloud set-up, performance monitoring, and network issues are critical components to ensuring the software works as intended. ETRM systems are complex because they model the entire business.
“To be able to see your real-time position in the market, you need to have many datapoints correct at all times across the entire life cycle of a trade,” Rob explains. “This can generate terabytes of data that affect performance and require proactive actions.”
For example, many markets are shortening trading intervals times, causing other markets to adapt to keep up. The shift from 60-minute to 15-minute intervals in the Single Day-Ahead Coupling (‘SDAC’) framework is a significant evolution in Europe’s electricity market design, requiring ETRM systems managing power to go from 24 data points per day to 96 per day, a significant increase in data volumes. Other countries have gone even further, though. In October 2021, Australia moved to Five-Minute Settlement (‘5MS’), which generates a constant stream of high-volume data that underlying technology and software must be able to manage.
capSpire helped an Australian client switch to five-minute granularity. “We worked closely with ION to find ways to optimize,” Rob says.
“The price and quantities are different every five minutes, even for options, so you can’t take shortcuts with weighted averages or summations. This is where our experience and relationships with our vendors help our clients.”
With his experience, Rob knows how to find bottlenecks and other infrastructure issues and has the experience of solving them. “You can’t undervalue experience,” he says. He has worked with Allegro for 17 years, but he and his team have also implemented Aspect, Openlink, RightAngle, and other systems used across the globe. It’s not just about understanding these programs and having long-term relationships with the software vendors but also having a strong grasp on nuanced country-specific requirements.
capSpire believes in finding a better way to help clients across geographies. For Rob, a better way means permitting each region to tap into their cultures and best practices, resulting in global best-in-class outputs. Regardless of locale though, everyone at capSpire enjoys what they do, Rob explains.
“There is the culture of making sure people are being looked after and enjoying their work, and that comes across in the quality we’re delivering to our clients.”
To learn more about capSpire or to connect with Rob, click here.
