The new trading and information system will replace the three-year old TradElect platform with the aim of slashing trading speed from 2.7 milliseconds to less than a millisecond.

In an update to users, the LSE says minimising the time and resources clients devote to the transition to Millennium Exchange has been pivotal in its planning.

"We will attempt to minimise disruption as much as possible by providing early access to the Millennium Exchange software code through our Customer Development Service (CDS) - providing clients with the ability to test their application(s) as early as possible to expedite overall market readiness."

With this in mind, the LSE says it has decided to move away from the traditional conformance test approach and introduce a new 'Self Certification' policy, designed to help reduce the time to market of customers' applications.

The plan for further phases of the migration to Millennium Exchange covering the rest of the markets operated by the Exchange will be communicated "in the near future", says the LSE.