Australian-based Metamako, supplier of ultra low-latency devices to exchanges and the trading community, has retained the services of Kevin Covington to mastermind its European expansion strategy.
One of the original creators of the HFT-enabling co-location concept, in recent years Covington has been working with a leading global asset management company to extend and develop the international presence of ITRS Group. With significant experience of building, running and selling financial technology companies, Covington has been tasked by the Metamako board to develop the infrastructure for the company's European operations to broaden out the business in London and other major trading cities in Europe.
Dr. Dave Snowdon, founder and co-CTO of Metamako, said: "We launched ten months ago and quickly grew the business with our MetaConnect switches, with prop traders particularly quick to adopt our technology. Clients are now using our products worldwide and we are running ahead of plan. This is the right time to make the commitment to both clients and our business and capitalise on our success in Europe, with increased levels of support, account management and sales. Getting Kevin to agree to build our European business is a real leap forward for us. He's been there and done it successfully several times and his skills and experience will be a real asset to Metamako in expanding our customer base of banks, exchanges and service providers."
Kevin Covington, managing director and founder of Change Alley, the recently-formed London-based consultancy, said: "Metamako came to my attention a few months ago and what really got my interest was a well-developed product, clarity of focus from the founders and a very positive response from the market. Many companies I look at just sell a 'better mousetrap', but these guys have really gone back to first principles and created an exceptional solution for speed. They are an exciting company and I am looking forward to working with them."
Metamako is a leader in ultra low-latency devices, specialising in solutions for businesses where speed is critically important. Its two products, MetaConnect-16 and MMetaConnect-48, both ultra-low latency switches, were launched in December 2013 and May this year, respectively. With a latency of less than 4 nanoseconds Metamako switches are up to 100 times faster than traditional packet switches. They come with built-in intelligence and a number of unique features, not usually found in this type of switch, such as high levels of monitoring functionality, management statistics and network monitoring.