Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX), a provider of global data centre services, today announced that the London Metal Exchange (LME), the world's leading non-ferrous metals market, has opened its first access node offering proximity services, located in Equinix's LD4/LD5 London International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre campus in Slough.
The new access node will provide LME members located at the Equinix campus a unique opportunity to connect directly to LMEselect, the Exchange's electronic trading platform, dramatically reducing connectivity costs.
Established for more than 130 years and located in the City of London, the LME offers a range of futures and options contracts for non-ferrous, minor metals and steel billet. The Exchange helps its members to plan ahead for sudden price movements in changing market conditions by providing a transparent forum for all trading activity. In 2010, 120.3 million lots were traded at the LME, while the total value of trading on the Exchange was $11.63 trillion.
The LME access node will bring additional trading opportunities to Equinix's already rich financial ecosystem at the LD4/LD5 campus. This will further attract new trading participants and complement the existing Equities, FX and Fixed Income trading venues already housed in the data centre. This significant trading venue will also increase market opportunities for more than 250 of Equinix's financial services customers that are interconnected across its rich financial trading communities within Zurich, Frankfurt and London.
Michael Warren, CTO at the LME: "Equinix's state-of-the-art data centre LD4/LD5 campus will offer our members ultra-reliable colocation services. They have an established community of financial services firms worldwide and this provides the LME and its members with a readymade market in which to operate."
"We are delighted to be working with the LME to optimise the trading capabilities of its members," said Russell Poole, General Manager, Equinix UK. "This mutually beneficial relationship with the LME supports our continued investment in the financial services industry. While Equinix will offer LME members a highly reliable and secure location from which to trade, the LME's presence will further enhance the broad spectrum of services available to participants in the financial trading communities that exist within our data centres."