CANNEX Financial Exchanges

Private HP e3000-based information needed to be secured for public Internet travel.

In the mercurial world of financial services, instant access to real-time information spells competitive advantage. But securing that information for Internet travel can present a huge technological hurdle. The IT department at CANNEX made the leap with the help of two products: Reflection (thick client) and Reflection for the Web.

There was a time when financial institutions had to phone around to learn how competitors were pricing interest rates and calculation values. Brokers and other financial consumers had to merge data from individual faxes into their own tables.

Today, thanks to the CANNEX System, providers and consumers of financial information can easily download or print out a consolidated view of all financial products and services. The CANNEX System is an application running on an HP e3000 at CANNEX headquarters. CANNEX’s clients maintain product and service information on this system via online access or file transmission.

For nearly two decades, CANNEX has been using Reflection software to give their clients access to the CANNEX System. “From time to time, we’ve investigated other options,” said Steve Waters, vice president of systems at CANNEX. “But they’ve always turned out to be clearly inferior to Reflection.”

CANNEX has an agreement involving Reflection (thick client) and Java-based Reflection for the Web, which they started using in 2000. The agreement allows CANNEX to embed an auto-connector code in Reflection before sending it to their clients. Waters determines whether clients get Reflection or Reflection for the Web based on the functionality they need.

If clients need host-initiated file transfers, CANNEX sends them Reflection, which users can easily install without IT help. To connect, they simply click the CANNEX System prompt and log on to the HP e3000 via modem or the Internet.

If clients don’t need host-initiated file transfers, they get server-based Reflection for the Web. Users go to the CANNEX System web page and download the Reflection applet. Once downloaded, the applet connects directly to the host application, without going back through the web server.

As e-business grew, however, Waters and his team needed a way to protect client data traveling over the Internet. “No one wants modems on their desktops anymore,” Waters said. “They’re slow, cumbersome, and pose a security threat to the corporate LAN.”