For Release: February 23, 1998
For Information Contact: Marilyn Talley Rains
918/588-3332
Williams Showcases World Class Trading Floor
Tulsa --- After nearly three
years of intensive planning, vendor and employee surveys, expert assessment,
and in-depth analysis of trading floors from around the country, Williams
opened the doors to its new 300-position, 21,000 square-foot single-level
energy trading floor.
The Williams trading floor
features technology, design and amenities surpassing those of most trading
companies in the nation, according to Jerry Gollnick, Williams senior vice
president and general manager of energy marketing and trading. The energy
trading floor is part of a new 236,000 square-foot resource center adjacent to
the 50-floor Williams Tower where Williams' corporate headquarters is
located.
"The culmination of
this project demonstrates Williams' pledge to the energy marketing and risk
management industry and reinforces the company's ongoing technological commitment
to our customers," Gollnick said.
"As the second most profitable energy marketer in the nation, we
remain committed to our customers by providing our traders with the absolute
best tools available to compete and succeed."
The expansive Williams trading
floor is designed for specific trading regions and commodities. It features
data walls comprised of two 30-foot futures exchange walls, two 70-foot
proprietary data walls, and a 21-foot full motion video wall. All are strategically located where financial
and physical traders, along with schedulers and risk analysts, can easily
access information. Joel McKnight, trading floor project manager, said 235
miles of wire carry electronic information backed by an uninterruptable power
supply and backup data base systems to ensure that business information and
partners are protected from any potential power or system failure.
Real time data and commodity
and energy futures are supplied to the data wall by Reuters and Dow Jones from
NYMEX, the Kansas City Board of Trade, and other
Exchanges; while the proprietary data walls provide
traders with energy business information.
The full motion video wall uses a direct digital satellite system and
displays selected channels or computer graphics accessed by a touch-screen
panel.
William G. Cassato, regional
vice president of Dow Jones Markets, said that Williams energy trading facility
"is one of the best utilizations of sophisticated technology on the
traders' desktops."
"It was very
important," McKnight said, "that attention was paid to the quality of
business life for Williams employees in this fast-paced industry." Work sites and furniture were ergonomically
designed to accommodate expansion and changes in technology in the overall
facility.
The new Williams resource
center, where the energy trading floor is located, will also house the Williams
communication group which contributed to the design and development of the
energy trading floor. The resource
center contains community rooms for video conferences, training and marketing
events.
Joe Veneziano, president of JCV Investment Systems and a consultant for
Williams said, "Williams' primary intention with the trading facility was
to provide its traders with a competitive
edge. Based upon initial remarks made
by the vendors that supply Wall Street, Williams has achieved its goal."
About Williams
Williams
(NYSE: WMB), through its subsidiaries, is the nation's largest-volume
transporter of natural gas and provides a full range of traditional and leading
edge energy and communications services.
Its energy marketing and trading unit buys and sells all types of energy
products nationwide including natural gas and gas liquids, crude oil and
refined products, and electricity. The
unit also manages its customers' exposure to volatile energy prices using
comprehensive price-risk management services and creates customized energy
financing solutions for producers and end users. Company information is available at http://www.twc.com and
http://www.willtales.com/energy
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Portions of this document may constitute forward-looking statements as defined by Federal law. Although the company believes any such statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there is no assurance that actual outcomes will not be materially different. Additional information about issues that could lead to material changes in performance is contained in the company's annual report of form 10K which is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.