Telecommunications firm Sprint is to provide access to Chicago Mercantile Exchange's (CME) Globex trading platform, Clearing 21 system and market data services, under the exchange's DirectLink programme.
Under the multi-year agreement, Sprint will become an authorised vendor for the programme, which allows participants to use their existing network connections to link to the exchange's systems and market data services.
Arman Falsafi, managing director, global electronic trading and data, CME, says: "Working with companies like Sprint can help our customers reduce connectivity costs and allow them to quickly obtain customised connections to CME through the use of their existing internal networks."
Sprint will provide CME with toll-free voice services, global ATM, frame relay and dedicated Internet Protocol (IP) services, which will broaden the connectivity alternatives for the exchange's customers.
In addition, Sprint can also be called on to deliver a redundant ATM network as a backup to the primary network for those customers using T1 lines.