Altra announced earlier this week it has completed thepreviously announced merger of the Streamline and Quicktradeelectronic energy trading systems, achieving a major goal Altra setwhen it bought Quicktrade in January. Altra said the combinedpackage will increase Streamline user numbers 30% and boostliquidity.

“A single platform was the solution to evolving these marketsinto a seamless enterprise,” said Rusty Braziel, chairman ofAltra’s board of directors.

“We realized when we bought Quicktrade that there couldn’t betwo different platforms-co-existing under one roof,” said StaceyWilliams, an Altra spokesperson.

The company said the new system combines the best of bothpredecessor systems. It will facilitate 5 Bcf/d of natural gastrades, 500,000 b/d in liquid fuel transactions and increasingvolumes in the electric power market.

All real-time electronic trading products will now be calledAltrade, including systems for power, gas and natural gas liquids.David Hanson, vice president of electronic trading services and anex-Quicktrade employee, said the gas system will be an upgradedversion of the Quicktrade platform. “In terms of contracts, it waseasier to switch people to Quicktrade than it was vice-versa. Alsothe old Altra platform could not duplicate some of the pricingpoints that Quicktrade’s platform can.” Hanson added that theAltrade Power and Altrade Liquids (better known in the industry asChalkboard) systems will be out well before the end of the summer.Unlike Altrade Gas, the other two systems will be based from theStreamline model.

The convergence signified the end result of the merger betweenthe two companies. “Everything else is done and the process wentvery smoothly,” Hanson said. “There were no layoffs, and in fact,we’ve increased our employee base. After the dust settles from theconvergence, Altra will focus all of its efforts to create a newgeneration platform, that will come out sometime next year.”

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