An EPEX SPOT ISV is an Independent Software Vendor: a company that has signed an ISV agreement with EPEX SPOT and whose software has passed the exchange's own conformance tests. For a trading desk the point is speed. Software the exchange has already tested replaces the implementation, testing and conformance steps of EPEX SPOT's own API process, so you go from interest to simulation access to production without building or certifying a connection yourself. Voltnir is a certified ISV for the M7 intraday continuous market.
What does the ISV certification check?
Before an application reaches production, EPEX SPOT runs it through a conformance test: compliance with the exchange's API Terms of Reference and with its trading products and market specifications. In practice the exchange itself connects to the software over the M7 API and checks that it behaves the way a well-formed client must, end to end. Software that passes is listed on EPEX SPOT's software-providers page, per trading system.
How does a desk get online without an ISV?
EPEX SPOT publishes its API onboarding as nine steps, from interest to go-live. A desk building its own connection walks all of them: the API package, simulation access, implementing against the API and its Terms of Reference, its own testing, the conformance test, authorisation, and only then production access. Everything before the first order is the desk's own work and the desk's own risk, and the conformance test is a gate the desk has to pass on its own software.
How does an ISV application get you online faster?
EPEX SPOT's own process draws a shortcut for desks that use an ISV application: from interest straight to simulation access, then production access. There is no implementation to write, no test campaign to run and no conformance test to pass, because the exchange has already run that test against the software. What is left is the part that is yours either way: your membership, your credentials, and configuring the installation for the delivery areas and products you trade.
What stays the same?
Your EPEX SPOT membership, your credentials and your trading data. An ISV application connects your membership, it does not replace it, and it does not move your data into someone else's cloud. Certification is also per trading system: an M7 certification covers the intraday continuous market, and day-ahead and auction trading run on a different EPEX SPOT system.
Where does Voltnir fit?
Voltnir is the EPEX SPOT M7 intraday gateway built to get a desk trading without the integration project. It is a certified EPEX SPOT ISV for the M7 intraday continuous market, so the shortcut above applies to a desk that trades through it. It ships as one static binary for your own Linux host, with nothing else to install: it holds the M7 session, keeps the order book, checks position, cash and self-trade limits before an order leaves, and serves the market over REST, WebSocket and gRPC with an embedded trading terminal. Download a simulator licence from the customer portal, bring your ASIM credentials, and you can be trading on the EPEX SPOT simulation environment the same day. Moving to production reuses the same install. It stays self-hosted throughout, under your own EPEX SPOT identity.
Frequently asked questions
What is an EPEX SPOT ISV?
An Independent Software Vendor that has entered into an ISV agreement with EPEX SPOT and whose software has passed the exchange's conformance tests. EPEX SPOT lists its ISVs on its software-providers page, per trading system, with a sales contact. Voltnir is a certified ISV for the M7 intraday continuous market.
Which onboarding steps does an EPEX SPOT ISV application skip?
The implementation, your own testing and the conformance test. In EPEX SPOT's nine-step API process, a desk on a certified ISV application goes from interest straight to simulation access and then production access, because the exchange has already tested the software.
Do I still need an EPEX SPOT membership?
Yes. An ISV application does not replace your membership or your credentials, it connects them. Production access needs the membership, and simulation access needs an EPEX SPOT ASIM licence, which issues the SIM credentials.
Does an ISV certification cover day-ahead and auction trading?
Only for the trading system it is granted on. EPEX SPOT lists ISVs per system, and an M7 certification covers the intraday continuous market, not the MATS auctions. Voltnir covers M7 only.
Can I try an ISV application on simulation before production?
Yes, and that is the normal route: simulation access comes before production access in EPEX SPOT's process. Voltnir runs free against the EPEX SPOT simulation environment with your ASIM credentials, and moving to production reuses the same install.