Fidessa also has a strong pipeline of European clients due to take on the first package of solutions in the next few months.

The first stage of Fidessa's European Intelligent Liquidity Access strategy, which was launched in April, packages the firm's smart order routing capabilities with low-latency connectivity and distribution; a virtual market grid that provides a view across all the different markets; smart order workflow to support the consolidation of positions across multiple venues; and specific access to leading 'lit' venues Turquoise, Equiduct and Chi-X. It is the first in a series of scheduled releases over the next eighteen months that will address the specific demands of trading on the new liquidity venues across Europe.

Steve Grob, Director of Strategy, commented: "We put a great deal of thought into the implications of multiple liquidity destinations and worked hard to develop a comprehensive set of tools that support the new smart workflow that our enterprise and hosted clients require. Fidessa's European ILA offering enables clients to really take advantage of trading across the post-MIFID landscape and eliminates much of the extensive effort required to develop such essential capabilities in-house. In particular, our clients like the fact that our intention with ILA has been to create a ready-made platform that will be regularly updated over the next 18 months to reflect the new alternative sources of liquidity and interaction between them as they emerge."

Trevor Gatfield, Head of Operations at Investec, stated: "With the introduction of a number of new MTFs and the need for smart order routing, Investec has used Fidessa's ILA offering to engage with these venues, allowing us to provide best execution for our clients and thereby delivering a higher level of service."

The second stage of Fidessa's European ILA strategy is due for release at the end of 2008. It will incorporate additional smart order routing fg functionality, which will enhance the ability to make intelligent decisions about directing order flow across multiple venues, and will include access to BATS Europe and NASDAQ OMX Europe to provide comprehensive access to lit venues. A third stage will add specific dark routing and reporting capabilities, before a hybrid version providing combined dark and light routing becomes available in 2009.

"We're pleased to connect with Fidessa as we work to link the European trading community to the high-efficiency, low-latency BATS platform," said Mark Hemsley, CEO of BATS Europe. "Using the same principles we've used in the US - great technology, innovative pricing and superior customer service - we look forward to working with Fidessa and their clients in this exciting European environment."

Charlotte Crosswell, President, NASDAQ OMX Europe, commented: "NASDAQ OMX Europe is a strong believer in creating a truly transparent pan-European marketplace under MiFID. Connecting Fidessa to NASDAQ OMX Europe provides customers with the ability to build complex routing strategies and ultimately brings customers closer to gaining best execution benefits."

Steve Grob added: "The extensive planning and preparatory work we have carried out forms the basis of a detailed roadmap for delivery that offers clients an effective strategy for responding to new market structures as they continue to evolve. The markets are yet to take their final form, and it is impossible at this stage to predict the winners in terms of destinations. But what we can say with certainty is that fragmentation is here to stay. Fidessa's Intelligent Liquidity Access strategy is all about anticipating the impact that the changing patterns in the market will have on our clients."

In a further move to clarify trading in today's increasingly fragmented markets, Fidessa has recently launched the Fidessa Fragmentation Index (FFI) which provides an accurate, unbiased measurement of the true state of liquidity fragmentation across order-driven markets in Europe. The FFI, and the accompanying industry forum and blog can be accessed for free at fragmentation.fidessa.com.