• Agreement includes joint commitment to further develop ArcticDB as an open source project
• New Man Group product simplifies working with dynamic data structures at terabyte scale
• ArcticDB will add key functionality to Bloomberg’s BQuant platform

Man Group, the global, technology-empowered active investment management firm, and Bloomberg, a global leader in business and financial information, have signed a multi-year open source technology development and product integration agreement for a new DataFrame database product, ArcticDB. This is the first transaction of its kind for Man Group and the resulting product will be implemented as part of Bloomberg’s BQuant offering.

We're delighted to have signed a multi-year open source development agreement with @Bloomberg for @ArcticDB, a high-performance Python-native database. This will be integrated into @TechAtBloomberg's BQuant environment to simplify working with terabyte-scale data structures pic.twitter.com/HCp3Xhwy1I

— Man Group (@ManGroup) February 27, 2023

ArcticDB, a high-performance Python-native database, was built in response to the ever-increasing amount of data and complexity of front-office research at Man Group, a challenge faced by many large buy-side and sell-side institutions.

Bloomberg will integrate ArcticDB into BQuant, Bloomberg’s analytics platform for quantitative analysts and data scientists in the financial markets to quickly build, test, and deploy models for alpha generation, risk, and trading. These models often rely on high volume timeseries data that include Bloomberg’s comprehensive range of high-quality, market leading, multi-asset-class financial and alternative linked datasets, as well as a firm’s own internal data. The BQuant environment, which combines Bloomberg data, services, and tools with the best of open source technology such as Python and Jupyter notebooks, is fully integrated with the Bloomberg Terminal.

Man Group trades trillions of dollars of buy and sell orders each year; this demands fast, flexible, and familiar data science tools which have the ability to store and process complex data at an industrial scale. ArcticDB deals with individual data elements spanning hundreds of millions of rows, or hundreds of thousands of columns, powering use cases such as deep tick history analysis or modelling of large corporate bond universes. Using ArcticDB, Man Group’s investment professionals and technologists can better power robust, near-real-time automated trading. It also enables point-in-time analysis of research datasets and provides functionality for signal backtesting.

The first iteration of ArcticDB was made available on an open source basis via GitHub and has seen over one million downloads since 2015. The latest version continues an open source approach and adds a commercial proposition through an enterprise version for production use.

This latest version of ArcticDB retains the same Python-friendly API backed by a new C++ engine. It is designed to leverage modern cloud object storage, complement any existing data science tech stack, and can be installed with a single command.

Gary Collier, CTO of Man Group Alpha Technology, commented:

“Today’s tools are simply not built to address the challenges of real-world data science. Datasets are massive, complex and time-varying. However, regardless of their original form, DataFrames quickly emerge as the unit of analysis in modern data science workflows and ArcticDB makes this a first-class concern. By streamlining how we work, ArcticDB enhances our ability to generate new trading strategies, optimise portfolios, and manage investment risk. These are all features that we expect Bloomberg users will appreciate too.”

Mark Jones, Deputy CEO at Man Group, added:

“Technology is part of our DNA; we’re using our 35 years of quant investing and technology experience to improve performance and efficiency across alpha generation, trading and execution, and risk management. ArcticDB has transformed the way we handle data, and we’re confident it will do the same for others.”

Shawn Edwards, CTO of Bloomberg, added:

“We’re excited to collaborate with Man Group to further develop the open source ArcticDB project and to enhance our customers’ experience using the BQuant platform by integrating its capabilities. This will give Bloomberg’s quantitative clients the ability to process, analyze, and backtest using billions of rows of timeseries data in seconds as they seek new ways to generate alpha. In addition, this effort further reinforces Bloomberg’s ‘open source first’ philosophy, in which our engineers both use and contribute to the broader open source ecosystem.”

Source: Man Group

Luke Ellis, CEO, shares how today's FY 2022 results show how we've delivered alpha for our clients in difficult markets, how our first-class technology and talent continue to provide innovative solutions, and the strength and resilience of our business. pic.twitter.com/ffTxq00LLQ

— Man Group (@ManGroup) February 28, 2023