LSE says Infolect provides significantly greater functionality than LMIL, supporting multiple protocols and multiple data specifications according to customer demand. The system will also enable LSE to broaden the range of market data products it offers.

Based on the Microsoft .Net framework and Microsoft SQL Server database, the new system currently broadcasts over 10 million messages a day with a total of 97,000 terminals receiving real time exchange market data. The new infrastructure has also been designed to be "backwards compatible" with customers' existing systems to minimise market impact.

David Lester, CIO, LSE, says: "As our customers continue to use the latest technology to upscale their trading strategies, Infolect gives them access to real-time information faster than any other exchange in the world."

Lester says Infolect is a key component of the exchange's technology roadmap (TRM) – a four year transition to next generation trading technology – due for completion in early 2007. The TRM programme is being implemented in partnership with consultancy firms and technology vendors such as Accenture and Microsoft.

Stage two of the rollout of Infolect is scheduled to commence from November 2005 and will focus on the introduction of Service Channels and new products.

The LSE says it has also successfully completed a trading capacity upgrade project that has doubled the capacity of its SETS system to accommodate projected growth in trading volumes ahead of the introduction of the new TRM trading platform in early 2007.

Since the introduction of Sets in October 1997, the average daily number of order book trades has grown from 11,000 in November 1997 to over 205,000 in September 2005, almost an 18 fold increase.