This allows ASX to provide its US-based clients direct access to the Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE), a wholly-owned ASX subsidiary, and its suite of liquid and transparent products.

The ASX Hosting Solution will achieve the fastest, most direct and cost-effective access possible to the SFE SYCOM® trading engine from the US, via the ASX point of presence and its international network, all architected through Equinix, Inc. It will be of interest to SFE Market Participants and their clients who wish to optimize the performance of their transactions by directly connecting within the Equinix CH1 IBX data center.

David Raper, ASX's General Manager, Trade Execution and Information Services, said: "The new ASX Hosting Solution offers a service that better meets our clients' needs for highly reliable connectivity. It allows a technical connection to the SFE market through a cross connect from the client's rack in the Equinix facility to the ASX Hosting Solution. We are pleased to be working with Equinix given their strong reputation in the financial services industry."

"With Equinix, ASX can create a marketplace of partners and end users that will greatly benefit from the launch of the new ASX Hosting Solution," said John Knuff, general manager of Financial Services at Equinix. "Both organizations are complementary in terms of market offering and business requirements. While Equinix offers ASX a solid base of critical vendors and potential end-users, ASX will in turn attract new participants to locate within Equinix IBX data centers, worldwide."

Features of the ASX Hosting Solution include:

* reduction in the cost of access
* reduction in the time to market
* improved operational efficiency
* access to the most liquid interest rate futures market in the Asia-Pacific time zone