The first initiative is CFN's deployment of its Alpha Platform On-Demand, the first globally-distributed, high-performance financial markets public cloud, delivering an on-demand cloud computing environment in proximity locations in London and Frankfurt. CFN's second initiative will accelerate expansion of its core Alpha Platform low-latency connectivity, infrastructure and managed trading solutions into five additional financial hubs: Madrid, Zurich, Milan, Stockholm and Moscow. Combined, these initiatives will broaden access to CFN's single-sourced, high-performance trading solutions across European financial markets.

"Our European expansion is in direct response to our clients' needs," said Mark Casey, President and CEO, CFN Services. "As brokers, dealers and trading firms move to diversify their trading strategies, they are increasingly looking to overseas markets. Our global, low-latency networks and high-performance infrastructure will enable European market participants to grow their businesses and expand into new markets."

CFN will enhance its Alpha Platform for ultra-low-latency market data delivery and trade execution to enable the dynamic provisioning of a secure, enterprise-compliant, virtual cloud computing environment in proximity to European liquidity venues in the equities, options, futures, derivatives and the FX markets. With Alpha Platform On-Demand, clients can self-provision business-critical, front- and back-office applications on demand, supporting OMS/EMS, risk management, market data management, back-testing and clearing and settlement, while maintaining high performance, direct market access.

"Our core trading infrastructure services combined with our proximity-hosted cloud solutions provide a differentiated and compelling solution that can have a direct impact on trading performance and profitability. With cloud services becoming increasingly relevant in the global financial markets, European market participants ants now have expanded access to solutions that deliver the cost-savings and high performance required for today's financial markets," added Casey.

"CFN has a strong track record of delivering optimized solutions for the financial markets." said Wil Tirado, VP of Network and Infrastructure Services, CFN Services. "We are consistently searching for opportunities to invest in our infrastructure so clients can capture new market opportunities. This European expansion is a key part of that strategy."

CFN will continue to expand its network and bolster its portfolio of solutions in the European and Asia-Pacific regions over the next six months. CFN's Alpha Platform On-Demand will debut in Asia with nodes in Singapore and Tokyo providing APAC buy-side and sell-side firms and platform providers access to its high-performance on-demand public cloud services.