"It's a communications tool that we use to get crucial market information from the point of sale to our trading desk," said Mr. Seton-Harris, a clerk who mans one of Lehman's trading booths on the floor. "It makes it easier to trade."

The new messaging capability, introduced to a handful of pilot users in May, replaces what was offered through the NYSE's Broker Booth Support System® or BBSS®, a full-service order-management system for NYSE member firms such as Lehman. More significantly, it heralds the transition from the 10-year-old BBSS to a more powerful system called NYSE TradeWorks.

"BBSS set the standard for providing efficient and effective order-management capabilities in support of member firms' trading activities on the floor," said NYSE Chief Technology Officer Roger Burkhardt. "With TradeWorks, the NYSE will offer the same functionality, adding new features and an improved user interface."

The initiative won't be easy. According to Mr. Burkhardt, the project requires building a brand new infrastructure that will offer greater extensibility and scalability, meaning it will be easier and faster to introduce tech upgrades and changes in the future. The transition to TradeWorks will occur incrementally over the next 18 months, with May's messaging upgrade the first stage of the system overhaul.

"TradeWorks speeds and enriches the flow of information between the trading floor and the end customer, which is crucial in today's fast-paced trading environment," said NYSE President and Co-COO Robert Britz. "On-the-spot market information is of huge value to customers, particularly those with sophisticated trading strategies."

With escalating trading volume and increased customer demand for faster executions, the NYSE is investing heavily in technology to help brokers and specialists operate in an increasingly electronic trading environment. In March, for example, it began rolling out new software on brokers' handheld devices that will help them trade faster and more flexibly. The transition to TradeWorks is the latest in the NYSE's push to provide members with the technology tools they need in today's world of trading.

"Expediting the flow of information is crucial, especially with the anticipated expansion of NYSE Direct+,® the Exchange's automatic-execution service," said Jim Baglino, a floor manager for Lehman. "Information is what we do," he said. "The faster we can give our trading desk the information it needs the better."

The new technology is not just about trading faster. It's about giving traders the ability to provide quality trading information to customers. With the enhanced messaging capability, traders are able to see markets in different stocks much faster than in the past.

"We're able to see more of what's going on," said Myrna Lipinski, a floor operations manager for Piper Jaffray and one of the pilot users of the new messaging system. "It makes you react faster and make a better decision when you're working a stock."

"The new technology is extremely useful because all the parties involved get valuable market information instantaneously," added Kenneth Clark, a managing director at Piper Jaffray. "We can instantly send information from any crowd on the trading floor to our Minneapolis and New York trading desks."

The real-time market intelligence from the floor is also one of the factors that creates the highest-quality market for NYSE-listed companies, said Mr. Burkhardt.

For the pilot users of the new messaging system, the real test rested on the speed and ease with which they'd be able to send "market looks," the quick sizing up of trading interest that brokers convey back to their trading desks. For example, brokers on the floor might send a market look message as to the number of buyers and sellers in a stock or the quantity bid or offered. This real-time assessment of the market is critical, say traders, in making quality trading decisions for their customers.

"We generate about 2,000 market looks a day," said Mr. Seton-Harris. "To the extent that we can take out all the little steps in sending market looks, it makes a big difference."

Because the messaging system is what's termed "configurable," many of the time-consuming little steps that Mr. Seton-Harris alluded to were eliminated. Rather than having to type in certain codes or the names of message recipients, users simply press large buttons that they've pre-configured or programmed. The same holds true for standard messages, such as the ever-popular message to "get a market look," which is represented with a simple cross.

"In the past, I'd have to get on my cell phone. I was much more tethered," said Piper Jaffray's Mr. Clark. "Now I can direct the information with the touch of a pen."

Playing a key role in the stepped-up flow of information are mobile handheld devices the NYSE provides to brokers. Today, brokers collectively send and receive an average of 75,000 messages daily via their NYSE e-Broker ® devices, up 200 percent from 2002. The devices draw upon the Exchange's high-performance wireless data system, which if stretched out in its entirety would cover 10 miles—the world's highest-density wireless local area network.

The upgraded messaging capability links the handheld devices to the floor booths to the upstairs trading desks like never before. The initial users of the new messaging system were particularly impressed with two features, saying it significantly increased the speed with which they got information to and from the floor. One feature allows them to keep their order screen open while viewing their messages, something they were unable to do with the BBSS system. The other popular feature, the message ticker, lets them view messages as they arrive.

"The ticker is one of the great features of the improved messaging capability," said Ms. Lipinski. "It allows you to see all the looks coming in."

The users reported fewer keystrokes and less flipping between screens to get tasks done. They especially appreciated the larger buttons and icons, the ability to size screens, and the option to save expensive thermal paper. Messages now are printed only at the request of users. Before they were printed automatically.

"I'm not printing half the paper I used to," said Mr. Seton-Harris. The ability to shut off the printing of messages was designed to support the floor's goal of paperless trading.

The new message log is another favorite. Once organized by time only, the log can now be sorted in a variety of ways, making it easier to find old messages. Mr. Seton-Harris reports being able to find and forward messages in about six seconds, whereas before it took three to four minutes.

The next stage of the transition to TradeWorks will focus on the system's ability to manage orders and reports of executed trades. This is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2005. In early 2006, the NYSE will initiate the last leg of the transition, a process that's expected to last most of the year.

"It's a challenging venture but well worth taking," said Dave Bartges, vice president of Trading Technology at the NYSE. "With TradeWorks, the NYSE will be able to introduce new enhancements more quickly—something that will give our members a competitive edge for years to come."