EDS Financial Trading
& Technology Center:
Where Wall Street Meets UT
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Up-to-the-second information is the lifeblood of today's financial markets. Successful investment managers wouldn't think of making critical decisions without checking the latest data from around the world. But on college campuses across the country, students prepare for financial careers using limited or outdated data, obsolete technology, and simulated portfolios. They can mimic the complexity and excitement of Wall Street, but never truly experience it. Only one university offers its students the opportunity to actually be part of Wall Street. The EDS Financial Trading & Technology Center (FTTC), established in 1996, is a state-of-the-art trading, research, and teaching facility in the Business School at The University of Texas at Austin. At the FTTC, students have access to the same financial data and information technology used on Wall Street today, whether they are working on a classroom exercise or managing The MBA Investment Fund, L.L.C., the nation's first legally accredited, student-managed private investment fund. The FTTC puts UT Austin on the cutting edge of financial modeling, information systems, and classroom technology and provides a laboratory for the development of future systems. The Center functions like a flight simulator, enabling instructors to create simulated trading exercises that help students prepare for the actual analysis and trading of securities in financial and commodity markets. According to Dr. George W. Gau, founder of FTTC and chairman of UT's Department of Finance, the $8.5 million project was made possible by Electronic Data Systems (EDS). As lead sponsor, the Dallas-based corporation contributed funds to cover a substantial portion of the construction and provided the personnel and in-kind support to integrate the widely varying data sources and technology. 
EDS chairman of the board, Les Alberthal, a UT graduate (BBA, '67), asked EDS executives Coley Clark, Jody Grant, Neil Iscoe, and John Castle--all of them fellow Texas Exes--to provide hands-on assistance to the project. "We couldn't have done it without EDS," says Gau. "They recognized the value of this project and took a leadership role from the beginning. This kind of Center had never been done before, and it raised many technical challenges. EDS provided the technical expertise to work through them. Very few firms have their level of skill and commitment." Besides EDS, 40 technology firms donated equipment and services, and eight leading investment banking and financial firms support the Center financially. The FTTC uses the latest audio-visual and distance learning systems, which are integrated into the three-room, 3,000-square-foot complex at the McCombs School of Business. The Trading Room is a replica of a Wall Street trading room, where UT graduate students manage the $14 million MBA Investment Fund, L.L.C. The hardware, software, and data feeds enable students to research prospective investments, using the same information services that professional money-managers rely on, and to manage the Fund's assets in a realistic environment that emulates Wall Street. The Trading Room has video-conferencing capability, giving students direct access to investment professionals anywhere in the world. 
Within a year of its creation, the FTTC began to produce significant benefits. "We are developing stronger ties with companies in New York, which provide job opportunities for our graduates and research opportunities for our faculty," says Gau. "We are also seeing applicants who choose UT because of this program, which is exciting for us over the long term." One of the most dramatic benefits, he notes, is that technology allows students in Austin to operate as though they are in one of the world's financial capitals. "Real-time data feeds bring in the information, and video-conferencing brings in the experts. The fact that we're not on the East Coast is no longer a problem." The FTTC also assists K-12 education in Texas, functioning as a laboratory for the testing of new technology applications and serving as a resource in the training of primary and secondary teachers. By Laura Tuma,
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