From Derivatives Strategy, February 1996

Founded in 1986 by two MIT graduates, Atul Jain and Michael How, Tech Hackers builds strategic trading and portfolio management systems for securities industry clients, including dealers, banks, brokers and information service providers. This is a rich experience base on which to build a spreadsheet add-in. In this category Tech Hackers has chosen the generic approach. Its @nalyst includes a set of function add-in libraries for Lotus, Excel, Applix and Quattro Pro-all with standard analytical tools for valuing bonds, bills, CDs, options, exotic options and mortgage-backed securities. Some of the package's other libraries contain functions for generalized cash flow analysis and date calculations.

Tech Hacker's product certainly enjoys a formidable marketshare; the @nalyst libraries are used by over 60,000 financial professionals worldwide. Part of the product's appeal lies in the firm's "open" approach to development: they have licensed the C-coded subroutine engine that forms the "backbone" of @nalyst to a number of securities firms. By doing this, Tech Hackers expects to speed the system's future pace of development.

Tech Hackers includes the @nalyst add-ins into packages called Marketbooks. There are five calculator books-Bond, Bond Swap, Options, Mortgage Backed Securities and Foreign Exchange. Each one is chock full of models and a full range of instrument types. Users almost unanimously give the firm high marks for its 500-page softcover reference manual that contains copious practical examples and explicit explanations of each single model.

The @nalyst's functions are extremely powerful and flexible. Many contain optional parameters that are not optional in other packages. For example, business holidays can be either included or ignored for the same function; in most other add-ins the user is required to explicitly indicate holidays to be subtracted.

No other provider in this survey has such good paper documentation. It is so good that it seems to compensate for the fact that there is minimum online help available. "Even if you are not a hard core techie, it is very easy to learn how to use @nalyst," says one Canadian broker. "I wish all the spreadsheet add-ins we use were this easy." Ease of use makes this system particularly appropriate for traders who need to perform quick analyses and cannot afford to invest time learning arcane system conventions and hidden short codes.

The Pros
1. Powerful and precise. @nalyst allows users a great deal of flexibility in terms of specifying models, dates, methodologies, etc. In addition, the system is very comprehensive and-because it is very spare in its design, including only the bare essentials-it performs calculations very quickly, using the recommended hardware.

2. Excellent manual. As users commented, Tech Hackers' manual should serve as a model for others in the field.

3. High marks for customer support. One user reported a minor bug and received a fix via Federal Express within two days.

The Cons
1. Minimal online help. Beginners may lament the lack of sample spreadsheets and function dialog boxes.

The Bottom line
A product with strong appeal to financial engineers and teams of programmers. It is powerful, sophisticated and no-nonsense. It has no awkward dialog boxes, sample applications or online help forms to get in the way. It should have special appeal to those who are still tied to paper-text media. Here's a system that can be learned-a system with an old-fashioned paper manual.