BT Global Financial Services is to launch its Radianz Ultra Access connectivity service in London in April, after successfully introducing the low-latency solution in New York and Chicago.
Ultra Access, described as a “metro-play”, provides users with sub-millisecond connectivity to trading venues within the same city. “We already guarantee sub-millisecond latency in New York and expect to achieve sub-500-microsecond latency in London,” said Joanne Kinsella, head of market infrastructure, BT Global Financial Services. According to Kinsella, demand for the service is strongest among large sell-side institutions, both for proprietary and client order flow, as well as high-frequency hedge funds.
BT GFS expects to sign up a number of multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) prior to Ultra Access’s April launch, before pursuing connectivity to London-based exchanges. MTFs Chi-X, Turquoise, Nasdaq OMX Europe and BATS Europe are all located in London.
The company also expects to roll the service out in other US cities as well as key financial centres in Europe and Asia.
Ultra Access currently connects BT GTFS clients to nine exchange destinations in New York and two in Chicago; the InterContinental Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Since the service’s Chicago launch last November, Ultra Access has reduced latency between New York and Chicago by around a third, according to BT GFS. Ultra access was first launched in New York in 2007.