I’ve been hearing and seeing a lot about Triple Point’s efforts in the biofuels market lately. They have been holding a number of seminars (like this one) and, according to the preverbal “word on the street”, seemed to be getting quite a bit of traction with the emerging market (read signing new customers). I called Michael Schwartz, the company’s chief marketing officer, to get a clearer picture of not only the biofuels market, but also to get updated on several other deals that I had been hearing about.

According to Michael, the biofuels market is really starting to pick up. Since releasing their “Commodity XL for Biofuels” product mid year, they have signed two new customers in the space, one in Europe and one in the US, and are continuing to get a number of inquiries for it. I asked Michael what in particular, if anything, separates their product from others that offer fuels functionality. He said that ultimately it came down to Triple Point’s ability to manage not only the fuel component, but also their capabilities in managing “softs”. Biofuel producers require the ability to track and manage multiple commodity components (including multiple feed stocks and finished products) seamlessly. Put another way, and via Triple Point literature, “Commodity XL for Biofuels has energy yield equivalent curves that provide precise hedge quantities for spot and forward markets allowing traders, for example, to manage the relationships between agriculture, crude oil and refined products.”

While I had the opportunity, I also asked him about several new deals that were not announced, but were being widely talked about. He confirmed (or in some cases he didn’t deny) new signing this year with Macquarie Bank, TVA, ArcLight, BG, Highland Energy, and Anadarko. He also mentioned several licenses were sold to expand their presence with existing customers including UBS, Bear Energy, HETCO, Glencorp, and Fortus. We talked about commodity coverage of the new and expanded licenses. Clearly nat gas and power continue to drive a lot of activity, with most of the new deals involving the two commodities. Several other deals involved crude, coal, and softs. Metals also brought in a new customer for the company, with Kazakhmys Plc, a European metals trader, picking up a new license.

Michael also made a point of mentioning that their “Quick Start” implementation program had gotten 6 of their customers up and running on their software within 4 months of signing contracts. Impressive…however it is worth noting that most of those customers weren’t replacing a vendor supported system.

Clearly, Triple Point is enjoying continued success this year. Michael said that they are on track to meet their aggressive growth targets they had set for the year, meaning another record. Given the number of new licenses, and the breadth of commodity coverage, Triple Point is obviously continuing to be a market leader in ETRM solutions.