Under the terms of the partnership, TransactTools will contribute source code, resources, and support to QuickFIX.

QuickFIX was first released into open source in early 2001. It has since gained worldwide popularity and acceptance as a production-quality FIX implementation. QuickFIX continues to provide an up-to-date implementation for anyone to use as they see fit.

Sam Johnson, CEO of TransactTools, explains: "We believe that the more firms that get started with this technology the better, so we'll do whatever we can to make it easy for them. This is consistent with other things we've done, like the OpenFIX free testing and certification service we launched back in 2002, to help promote the adoption of FIX. For TransactTools, it's about making FIX technology as accessible as possible to the marketplace. Over the past few years FIX has become further entrenched as the global standard for trading connectivity among large firms, yet the barriers still remain high for smaller players. By struggling to maintain artificially high price points for what has become commodity technology, point-solution vendors are creating barriers to adoption of FIX in the marketplace. The QuickFIX project is a great concept. It's a solid FIX implementation, and it's freely available as source code. This doesn't conflict at all with the FIX support in our commercial connectivity platform, because it targets a very different segment of the market. TransactTools is committing resources to the project to help make QuickFIX an even better platform for companies with smaller-scale implementations or who are just getting started with FIX."

The basic technology that enables a trading firm to communicate via FIX, commonly called a FIX engine, has become increasingly commoditized in recent years. FIX engine software functions as specialized messaging middleware for communicating transactions, and while there are many commercial FIX engines on the market today, the differentiation among these products - except at the enterprise level - is negligible. By partnering with QuickFIX, TransactTools aims to promote adoption of FIX more broadly among smaller firms.

According to Oren Miller, the creator of QuickFIX, "TransactTools recognizes that QuickFIX complements more than it competes with commercial solutions. The value of FIX as a whole increases with greater adoption. FIX should be a bridge, not a barrier for those wishing to trade electronically. I'm pleased to see TransactTools fully embracing this concept, and hope that others will follow their lead."