Kx Systems is a data analytics vendor and the developer of the K programming language, kdb, and kdb+, a column oriented database based on the k language. Both the language and the database are used in financial modeling and provide data analysis software to Wall Street investment banks, as well as energy, telecommunications, government and other industries. The company was founded in 1993 by Janet Lustgarten and Arthur Whitney, a computer scientist. In 2014, First Derivatives increased their ownership interest to a 65 percent share of the privately held company as it began expanding its databases to retail, pharmaceuticals and utilities. Kx Systems is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, and has had additional offices in New York, Switzerland, Germany and Hong Kong.