Wharton Research Data Services Launches Offerings to Corporate Clients

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania announces that Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS), the leading comprehensive, internet-based data research service, now provides its services to corporate clients.

Currently connecting over 300 academic institutions and organizations to financial, accounting, and economic data from over 40 vendors on a single platform, WRDS provides one-stop shopping for standardized data. In addition, WRDS offers a computing cloud and consulting services for clients in need of research support.

“The expansion of WRDS into the corporate sector brings tremendous resources to businesses in need of world-class research support and services,” says Wharton Deputy Dean Michael Gibbons.

Wharton Professor Robert Holthausen, chair of the WRDS Advisory Board, agrees. “The data available through WRDS is held up to the highest standards of academic rigor. As has always been the case for our institutional subscribers, corporate clients can now access WRDS to efficiently and seamlessly conduct research and test financial strategies with total confidence in their results.”

Currently, WRDS is used by over 30,000 academic researchers and finance professionals in 27 countries around the world. In addition to top universities, clients include the U.S. Treasury, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia. Its services are ideally suited for corporate clients such as investment banks, hedge funds, economic consultants and litigation support businesses.

“By using WRDS, clients reduce their research effort from months to days,” says Deirdre Woods, Wharton Associate Dean and CIO. “With intuitive and flexible access to multiple sources of reliable data as well as delivery options such as executing research on the WRDS computing cloud, WRDS is a critical resource to meet today’s business research needs.”

Run by a staff of doctoral-level research specialists, WRDS’ corporate clients will have the same access to expert research support provided to institutional clients, including online assistance, a 24/7 monitoring system, research applications, programs and utilities.

In addition to WRDS’ systems-side partner SAS, other vendor partners include FactSet Research Systems, Hedge Fund Research, Inc., Zacks Investment Research, Capital IQ’s Compustat, the NYSE Euronext Trade and Quote Database (TAQ), Thomson Reuters, and the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP).

About WRDS

Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) is the leading, comprehensive, internet-based data research service used by academic, government, non-profit institutions, and corporate firms. WRDS provides the user with one location to access over 200 terabytes of data across multiple disciplines, such as Finance, Marketing, and Economics. WRDS provides flexible data delivery options, including a simple but powerful web query method, and provides researchers with the ability to reduce their research time and execute strategy development on the powerful WRDS Cloud. Developed in 1993 to support faculty research at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, WRDS has since evolved to become the leading business intelligence tool for a global research community.

About the Wharton School

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania — founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school — is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The School has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 9,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of 88,000 graduates.

http://www.whartonwrds.com