Low-Latency.com

This monthly bulletin from the Financial Information Forum provides key data points for market data rates.
Read More »

STAC has released a study of the Reuters Market Data System (RMDS 6) on the IBM System x3650 server with 2 Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5160 3.0 GHz processors, running Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9.3 and communicating over Gigabit Ethernet.
In the project, STAC optimised and benchmarked the Reuters Market Data System in a traditional topology on the IBM servers. The results are the highest Point-to-Point Server fanout and highest MarketFeed throughput for a Source Distributor achieved to date on a two socket server for this topology:

• 2.59 million outbound user updates per second in the Point-to-Point Server fanout test
• 420,000 updates per second through a Source Distributor machine with MarketFeed

Additionally, this stack was able to achieve the highest throughput, 550Kups, in a low latency configuration of RMDS in a traditional topology with Ethernet.

The report is available to download at http://www.STACresearch.com.

STAC News Release

Technorati Tags: STAC, Reuters Market Data System, RMDS, IBM System x3650 server, Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9.3, Gigabit Ethernet

BEA has released a new benchmark study on BEA WebLogic Event Server performance, which it says demonstrates its ability to provide low latency at very high data rates. BEA entered the event driven architecture market in May, with the launch of WebLogic Event Server – pitched as the first and only Java application server designed for event-driven applications.

The benchmark application conducted in the study implemented a capital markets front office scenario in which an application monitors an incoming stream of market data watching for the occurrence of certain conditions that will then trigger an action. The study revealed that WebLogic Event Server was able to sustain an event injection rate of up to 1 million events per second while maintaining microsecond latencies on a Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 7350 series-based server. At this injection rate, the average event latency for the full processing path within the server was 67.3 microseconds, with 99.4 per cent of the events processed in less than 200 microseconds and 99.99 per cent processed in less than five milliseconds.

The report is available for download at www.bea.com/eventserver

BEA News Release

Technorati Tags: BEA, WebLogic Event Server, event driven architecture, Java, application server, Intel, Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 7350

Progress Software Corporation, supplier of application infrastructure software has integrated the Progress Apama algorithmic trading platform with the FXall foreign exchange ECN Accelor. This connectivity will enable fast and easy access to the Accelor platform, the vendor says. The Apama algorithmic trading platform enables traders to create, test, deploy and manage customised algorithmic strategies. Clients who use the Apama platform now have a wider view of liquidity pools from a single screen and can rapidly develop and directly deploy high-frequency FX strategies that capitalise on proprietary trading techniques.

Progress News Release

Technorati Tags: Progress Apama, FXall, Accelor, foreign exchange, FX, algorithmic trading

Azul Systems, provider of server appliances that deliver compute and memory resources as a shared network service, and Gemstone Systems, supplier of distributed data management and virtualisation solutions, have forged an alliance to deliver highly scalable and available data grids for Extreme Transaction Processing. The joint solution – which stems from a mutual engagement for the two companies at a leading Wall Street bank - provides “breakthrough” scalability and performance, the vendors say, enabling faster response times and more throughput to process stateful data in enterprise IT infrastructures, along with what they claim is unprecedentedly high availability. In the capital markets arena, the partners are targeting the high performance solution at applications such as real-time order management, trade execution, risk analysis and compliance.

Gemstone News Release 

Technorati Tags: Gemstone Systems, Azul Systems, shared network service, distributed data management, virtualisation, data grids, Extreme Transaction Processing, stateful data, real-time order management

Eight European financial institutions went live on November 1 with the MiFID-compliant best execution solution UL SMART from France-based connectivity provider Ullink, and according to the vendor the execution latency they are achieving is impressive. Among the eight firms are Banco Santander, CM-CIC Securities, Jefferies, KAS Bank and SEB. “After a full week in production at eight client sites, we are witnessing exceptionally low levels of best execution latency, down to 2 milliseconds for large volumes at one of our Tier 1 brokers,” says Georges Gomes, CTO of Ullink. “Our strategy of embedded decision making and market data caching proves the right choice: it allows our clients to comply with MiFID best execution requirements without sacrificing the execution latency of their existing solution,” he adds.

Ullink News Release

Technorati Tags: Ullink, MiFID, best execution, UL SMART, Banco Santander, CM-CIC Securities, Jefferies, KAS Bank, SEB, market data caching

IBM has launched two new IBM Websphere Software products, based on technology from IBM labs, designed to enable financial markets firms to enhance the management of complex financial market data. IBM Websphere MQ Low Latency Messaging Version 2.0 represents a significant expansion of the capability of IBM’s Websphere MQ family, the vendor says. Websphere MQ Low Latency Messaging is the high performance messaging component of Websphere Front Office for Financial Markets which is now available for the first time as a separate product. IBM Websphere Front Office for Financial Markets Version 2.0 is an enhanced version of IBM’s high speed market data delivery platform. It offers improved performance, capabilities and simplification, according to IBM.

IBM News Release 

Technorati Tags: IBM, Websphere, IBM Websphere MQ Low Latency Messaging, IBM Websphere Front Office for Financial Markets, high speed market data delivery

Intel yesterday announced its revolutionary Xeon 5400 chip - the first based on its Penryn technology - and expects servers based on the device to deliver significant performance and power consumption benefits across a wide range of low latency financial applications, including risk analytics, market datafeed handling and transactional execution systems, according to Intel executives.
Read More »

CLSA, the Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Credit Agricole, has selected TIBCO Enterprise Message Service as the platform on which it will build its next-generation global trading system in order to support increasing use of algorithmic trading methods. “The way we trade is changing and this is placing new technical demands on the trading platform. To meet these challenges and to prepare our business for expansion, we wanted to identify an enterprise messaging platform with the scalability, performance, low latency and high connectivity to handle both current and future trading systems,” CLSA CIO T Rajah says.

TIBCO News Release

Technorati Tags: CLSA, Credit Agricole, TIBCO, algorithmic trading

ICAP and Equinix, a provider of network-neutral data centres and internet exchange services, have introduced a new premium ICAP connectivity service for financial market participants trading in North America. The new service, i-Cross, will provide a high-bandwidth, low latency connection to ICAP’s BrokerTec and EBS platforms from a common data centre for the first time. The i-Cross service will be available before the end of the year.

Equinix News Release

Technorati Tags: ICAP, Equinix, BrokerTec, EBS