Joshua Rose, Principal - Commercialisation at Zeptonics, said the independent testing program confirmed the company's claim that each device is the fastest in its class: the ZeptoMux, with a 130-nanosecond latency, is indeed the world's fastest 10GbE multiplexing switch; and the ZeptoLink, with a latency of only 5 nanoseconds, is the world's fastest layer 1 switching device.

"Our devices were tested in trading environments at multiple client sites in the US and Asia, and the feedback across the board has validated our own latency numbers and other performance figures," Mr Rose said.

A spokesperson for a Chicago trading firm among the initial buyers said, "I'm extremely impressed with the ZeptoLink. Our standard ways of measuring latency don't show the presence of the device at all - its latency is below our error bars."

"We have been able to verify the functionality of the ZeptoMux," said a spokesperson from another Chicago-based firm. "And the latency numbers have been spot on."

Mr Rose said he was delighted to have sold multiple units of each device ahead of schedule. "And our Australian development team are excited that both of their hardware innovations will now be operating in one of the world's great trading hubs," he said.

The ZeptoMux is a 10GbE multiplexing switch that funnels messages from up to 23 downstream nodes to a single upstream service, and back again, as quickly as possible. It's optimised for latency-sensitive network scenarios such as exchange co-locations and other high-speed trading environments.

The ZeptoLink is the world's fastest circuit switch device, delivering up to 50 re-configurable network connections and packet replication with only a 5-nanosecond latency. This high-speed data transfer is ideal for "fan-out" trading applications such as market data distribution and network monitoring. ZeptoLink's unique architecture also enables remote, hands free network reconfiguration,n, making it ideal for use as an electronic patch panel.