The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is deploying 250 dual-core AMD Opteron processor-based HP servers to power its next generation trading technology infrastructure, which is due to launch in early 2007.
The deployment is part of the exchange's technology roadmap (TRM) - a four year transition to next generation trading technology. Once completed the TRM will enable the exchange to accelerate the implementation of capacity upgrades for one tenth of the current cost.
AMD says the exchange will use its its dual-core Opteron processors 275 and 875, running at 2.2 GHz to power the new trading infrastructure. The HP servers will play a key role in helping the LSE achieve an optimal business performance, as well as helping with space optimisation issues faced by many financial institutions.
Robin Paine, CTO at the LSE, says the ability of AMD Opteron processors to overcome the cooling challenges presented by an IT project of this scale was fundamental to the decision to choose AMD technology.
AMD Opteron processors feature the vendor's Direct Connect Architecture, an integrated memory controller and HyperTransport technology. AMD says the additional memory bandwidth and speed gains will allow the exchange to link two primary data centres with a third facility that acts as an arbitration facility.
"Today's markets are driven by the need for speed," says Paine. "AMD Opteron processors with Direct Connect Architecture offered a significant performance advantage over the competition."