Source: Level 3
Level 3 Communications, Inc., an international provider of fiber-based communications services, and Novasparks, the 'No LatencyTM' specialists in data packet processing solutions, announced today that they have successfully tested a next generation end-to-end low-latency market data transport solution leveraging Level 3's newly upgraded ultra-low-latency route between Frankfurt and London.
In current fragmented market conditions, high-frequency traders of investment banks, hedge funds and proprietary trading firms are looking to transport market data from one market venue to another as quickly as possible in order to fully benefit from the arbitrage opportunities available.
The testing was conducted in production mode between Frankfurt and London with an undisclosed investment bank using the Eurex full-length order book. The objective of the test was to prove that the combination and direct interface of Level 3's high performance fiber transport service and NovaSparks' low-latency Ticker Plant and connectivity solutions can offer additional latency gains ranging between 40 and 100 microseconds, with bursts up to 300 µs, subject to the configuration of the trading firm, but not subject to distance.
The latency performance improvements are delivered using a direct optical interface with Level 3 fiber equipment, bypassing the need for switches and routers and using PCI-Express connectivity.
The combination of NovaSparks and Level 3 next-generation technologies is configurable with any trading platform and also provides a network latency monitoring solution accurate to the microsecond, allowing participants to measure the latency performance of their market data handling and order entry.
Commenting on the business partnership with NovaSparks, James Heard, president of Level 3, said, "We have been impressed with the performance of NovaSparks' market data transport solutions. The ideal combination of our network and their accelerated hardware processing is set to help customers in the financial services industry gain faster access to market data, and benefit from the arbitrage opportunities on offer."
Eric Le Rolland, CEO of NovaSparks added, "Building on Level 3's global network and its technical telecom expertise, NovaSparks is delighted to partner to offer further significant advantages to financial services customers. The end-to-end low-latency market data transport solution again illustrates our commitment to continued innovation to help our trading community clients improve their performance."