TNS Launches Low-Latency Solutions
September 22, 2008
Transaction Network Services (TNS) has unveiled a suite of connectivity and hosting products it says will give financial market participants greater control over their latency and lets them select a suitable level of system efficiency.
Available in Light, Classic, Premium or Extreme, TNS says the packages leverage the technology, experience and relationships the Reston, Va.-based company has developed since it began providing its Secure Trading Extranet communications network more than a decade ago. The new offerings range from entrylevel to TNS Extreme, a high-performance service using low-latency fiber optics to connect directly to trading and data destinations.
Alex Walker, SVP and general manager of TNS’s financial services division, described the various levels as “different options customers can choose with regard to how they want to connect to TNS and to the exchanges for low-latency trading.” He added, “We can handle any connectivity requirement and will work closely with clients to match the needs of their business to the most advantageous solution for them.”
The suite, designed to bolster the Secure Trading Extranet, is supported by new collocation and fully managed hosting services that place equipment in close proximity to data and trading engines, reducing latency further, according to TNS.
Adam Sussman, director of research at New York-based Tabb Group, called the launch a “necessary move,” adding that “latency is an issue that has been in the limelight for quite a while, particularly in cash equities and some of the related instruments.”
“The importance of latency, and the ability to manage latency, is only increasing,” said Sussman. “The faster one participant goes tends to have a domino effect on the rest of the industry. This is not just about the speed of a particular network or server, or any particular component. It’s about the collective speed of all of the components put together and that’s a combination of hardware, software and location.”
“Financial market participants are demanding ever-decreasing levels of latency,” agreed Walker, “to gain competitive advantage, promote profitability and capitalize on black-box applications such as algorithmic trading.”
TNS Extreme is “a powerful strategic business tool for organizations needing the highest levels of system efficiency, while TNS Premium provides optimal connectivity by concentrating primary trading destinations together using our low-latency hub,” explained Walker. TNS Classic is based on Secure Trading Extranet, and TNS Light is “ideal for situations where leased-line circuit costs are prohibitive and uses the public Internet for select provider and counterparty connectivity only,” he noted.
TNS boasts one of the world’s largest financial communities, connecting more than 1,000 end points, including buy- and sell-side institutions, market data and software vendors, exchanges and alternative trading venues.
