SA devs create innovative stock-tracking app in SunGard Competition

Last month, more than 500 SunGard developers in 30 cities around the world took part in the SunGard Global Coder Cup. With the aim of creating new tech solutions for the financial service industry, a team from Cape Town was chosen to represent the Sub-Saharan Africa region in the international final. The final round will see additional teams from North America, Europe, Asia Pacific India and North Africa.

The Cape Town finalists created an innovative app which allows users to track stock shares that are trending. They did this using tools such as MongoDB, Google Predictions, Twitter Bootstrap and Leap Motion. Where the latter fits in, we’re not sure though we can imagine some really cool Minority Report-style presentations.

SunGard Financial Systems is a global company which provides software and IT services to institutions in virtually every segment of the financial services industry.

Alberto Fasana, Managing Director Africa at SunGard, said, “Our customers are operating in a challenging environment characterized by pressure to grow revenue while reducing costs and managing regulatory change. Our Coder Cup event attests to our commitment to continue creating and improving the technology that can help our customers achieve their goals.”

The final championship, sponsored by Intel, will take place in London and will include a judging panel made up of SunGard executives, thought leaders and industry experts from companies such as Intel and Blackstone.

“I’m pleased to participate in the SunGard Global Coder Cup to encourage the creativity and innovation that flourishes at these events. Innovative problem solving always helps push industries, and Financial Services specifically, to be more competitive, more efficient and less risky,” said William Murphy, chief technology officer at Blackstone.

This is SunGard’s second global codeathon. Last year the winning team of the 425 participants created a risk solution for corporate actions, using new visualization tools that provide the user with a more intuitive and holistic view of risk.