Direct Edge launches connectivity for market data and access

US stock exchange Direct Edge has launched a suite of connectivity services that provide market data feeds and direct market access to all major US exchanges via firms' Direct Edge connections.
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US stock exchange Direct Edge has launched a suite of connectivity services that provide market data feeds and direct market access to all major US exchanges via firms' Direct Edge connections.

This new service, called Connect Edge, is intended to help customers reduce costs by eliminating the need for individual connections to each marketplace, thereby making Direct Edge their primary source for marketplace connectivity.

Kevin Carrai, head of connectivity services, Direct Edge, said that the suite could be used by buy- or sell-side firms depending on their needs for either market data or market access. “We are really targeting firms that are looking to reduce their costs and they are typically mid-size. But we are also starting to see interest from larger firms that typically have their own telco circuits to use Direct Edge as a back-up service,” he said. “This will cost a customer a quarter of what they typically would pay. There's the telco cost and there is also the costs of supporting multiple feeds.”

For customers who already have a direct connection to the Direct Edge infrastructure, Connect Edge provides access to other market centres for data and connectivity. Firms that do not have a direct connection to the Direct Edge infrastructure can use Connect Edge by cross connecting from within their own facility to one of Direct Edge's three points of presence, located at Equinix NY4, Savvis and Telx centres in New Jersey.

Connect Edge offers data feeds with prices starting at US$500 per month including market data for both tape A and tape B streams over separate handoffs, and is billed month-to-month. Its lowest circuit latency to some markets is measured at below 100 microseconds round-trip and the exchange says its 10Gb network should have no risk of failing under capacity.

Direct Edge monitors requested bandwidth for order entry traffic on the service but does not rate limit the connection so the customer is never in danger of oversubscribing. Additionally, for multicast data, Direct Edge's 10Gb network backbone has more than enough capacity to support current and future market data rates from the exchanges.

In addition to Connect Edge, Direct Edge offers customers access to EdgeLink which enables them to directly connect to one or more Direct Edge customer routers. They can manage their own connectivity by choosing the telecommunications provider of their preference, or if they have a presence in the Equinix NY4 facility, they may cross-connect directly to Direct Edge.

Direct Edge was reclassified from an electronic communications network to a stock exchange on 21 July 2010.

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