Exegy provides a reconfigurable hardware platform that processes feed data at the hardware level.

Under terms of the deal each Exegy common share will be converted into HyperFeed shares of common stock and each Exegy option will be converted into HyperFeed options, resulting in the stockholders of both HyperFeed and Exegy each owning 50% of the merged company.

The new entity, which will operate under the name Exegy Incorporated, will be led by Hyperfeed CEO Paul Pluschkell, who will become president and CEO of the merged group. Exegy CEO James O'Donnell will preside as chairman.

The closing of the merger transaction, which is subject to customary conditions including the financing by both companies of $5 million each, is expected to occur at the end of July 2006.

The merger will see the newly formed company launch Exelerate TP, a ticker plant computing platform which will combine HyperFeed's financial content distribution technology with Exegy's platform.

The company says Exelerate TP will sustain throughput of more than one million exchange messages per second at less than 150 micro seconds of latency in a single 3U appliance.

"Exelerate TP is able to provide record-breaking throughput and latency – even while adding complex functionality - because it's built on a revolutionary, new compute platform based on reconfigurable hardware, not traditional ticker plant software," says O'Donnell.

Pluschkell adds: "Software can't process, add value and integrate with trading applications at the required data rates. Exelerate TP offers customers significantly reduced latency throughout the trade cycle, not just through the quote."

The system will be available to existing HyperFeed customers this summer with wider availability to begin in the autumn.

Last year Hyperfeed won exclusive rights to market Telerate's TRS and Active8 products after the Department of Justice and European Union mandated Reuters to divest itself of the software in order to satisfy anti-monopoly requirements.

Under the terms of the licence, HyperFeed can use and further develop the TRS technology to offer its own market data system worldwide.