'Double the speed and save hundreds of thousands of dollars'

Companies dealing with large amounts of data could save hundreds of thousands of dollars by fine tuning their custom software to increase processing speed, according to a leading Bermuda based technology specialist.

Dmitry Mnushkin, president of Treefrog Consulting, said an algorithm review and code optimisation could be the most effective means of resolving speed issues.

“Many companies write custom software to solve their various business needs. Often times this software works well for what it was designed to do but changing business requirements strain its capabilities and cause performance degradation,” he said.

“Businesses will typically solve this by purchasing faster hardware. Although this is generally guaranteed to boost speed, the level of speed increase is typically limited to two or three times while the associated cost may well run into the hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions of dollars.”

Mnushkin, whose clients include Trans Re, CatCo and Weston Insurance, added that an algorithm review and code optimisation can see improvements of five or ten times the original speed, which can be achieved within a week or two of investigation and critical code rewriting.

“Such improvements can delay the need for new hardware by years, although coupling them with new hardware can double or triple the combined benefit,” he said.

Mnushkin is part of a team of five optimisation experts, including computer engineers and PhDs in algorithm optimisation, that will conduct a ‘deep dive’ into problem areas and he is so confident of success that clients will not be asked to pay anything unless speed is doubled.

He concluded: “The approach we employ can be used for any company that handles large amounts of data, from reinsurance companies to trading companies and it could save a small fortune.”