Eze Link bundles Internet, FIX, market data and voice connectivity over a private network to provide financial firms a highly secure, redundant and available communications network to power their trading operations.

The foundation of Eze Link is Eze Castle's ECINet Private Network which serves as the communications gateway for more than 300 buy-side firms, delivering highly secure and redundant Internet-based communications. Extending the reach of ECINet, Eze Castle has established direct connectivity to the SunGard Transaction Network (STN) to provide customers with one communications platform to reach all of their trading counterparties, including broker/dealers, dark liquidity pools, crossing networks and other execution venues. STN is a trade automation and connectivity solution that links institutions throughout the financial services value chain, facilitating the purchase and sale of securities.

Bob Ward, chief operating officer of SunGard's wealth management business, said, "Expanded connectivity is especially crucial in volatile markets where greater price transparency and best execution are needed. STN helps investment firms to accelerate time to market, react quickly to market events, and access a wide universe of brokers for FIX order routing and trading through one secure connection. Eze Castle Integration and SunGard together provide a comprehensive and competitive communications package for buy-side firms."

Managed by Eze Castle's dedicated communications team, Eze Link simplifies the startup process and ongoing management of a firm's communications network. Eze Castle can quickly deploy Eze Link to provide firms with the key communications components necessary to jumpstart trading operations. Once in place, Eze Castle's dedicated team monitors the quality of service delivered and proactively makes adjustments as necessary to ensure connectivity across Eze Link is operating at peak performance.

"Enhancing and streamlining trading operations while reducing costs and risk is a top priority for our clients and the investment industry as a whole. In developing Eze Link we set out to fulfill this requirement and leverage our networking expertise to provide a complete solution that bundles the communications elements critical to a firm," said Bob Guilbert, managing director, Eze Castle Integration. "With Eze Link we are furthering our commitment to deliver and manage the full-spectrum of technology on which today's investment firms run and laying the platform for future advancements."