NYX Nyse Euronext

CME Group Inc. (CME) this week opened a new data center that provides the world's largest futures exchange operator with capacity to grow trading volume for at least a decade.

Chicago-based CME this week moved its electronic Globex trading platform into the new facility, delivering a small boost in execution speed. A second phase slated for early 2012 will allow brokers and trading firms to house their own systems in the facility, part of a broad industry trend towards co-location that facilitates faster trades.

"Globex is a very large entity, and in the data center we were using, we were going to run out of space at some point in time," said Joe Panfil, head of enterprise technology services for CME, who has overseen construction of the data center. "The new facility allows for a great amount of expansion as Globex grows."

Situated in Aurora, Ill., west of Chicago, the data center is large enough to fit four football fields, and central to CME's efforts to facilitate high-speed trading across its own derivatives markets as well as connections to international futures exchange platforms run by Brazil's BM&F Bovespa SA (BVMF3.BR), Mexico's Bolsa Mexicana de Valores SAB (BOLSA.MX) and Bursa Malaysia Bhd (1818.KU).

"It's all based around growth, both organic and the work that we're doing with other exchanges," said Panfil.

Data centers, highly secured buildings that house high-speed networks serving mobile phone companies, websites and other information-intensive operations, have drawn market operators' interest as computer-driven trading accounts for a greater percentage of exchange activity.

NYSE Euronext (NYX) is in the process of moving trading into a new facility in Mahwah, N.J., with a separate London-area unit due to come online later this year.

While electronic trading firms can connect to CME and other exchanges via data centers run by companies like Telx Group and Equinix Inc. (EQIX), developing proprietary facilities ensures capacity for growth. It also lets exchanges sell space to trading firms seeking the shortest possible distance between their servers and exchanges' trade-matching engines.

CME's data center expansion accounted for a large part of an anticipated $180 million to $200 million in capital expenditures this year, according to its most recent earnings report.

Co-location services, which let firms situate their trading systems beside exchange matching engines for a fee, are expected to come online in early 2012. CME has hired Craig Mohan, a former executive with hedge fund operator Citadel LLC, to lead that business.

This fall CME anticipates completing the shift of trading to the new facility by forging a more direct pathway for customers into the new data center, according to Panfil.

The data center's location--which CME declined to reveal--lies near two major fiber corridors that enable fast connections to other data centers, Panfil said. Power feeds from two separate nuclear power plants also run nearby.

A number of environmentally friendly features were built in, including a reflective white roof that reduces cooling costs, according to Panfil.

-By Jacob Bunge, Dow Jones Newswires; (312) 750 4117; jacob.bunge@dowjones.com

Grafico Azioni NYSE Group (NYSE:NYX)
Storico
Da Lug 2024 a Ago 2024

Grafico Azioni NYSE Group (NYSE:NYX)
Storico
Da Ago 2023 a Ago 2024