Atrium Network Sees Rising Emphasis on Latency Measurement as Exchange Ring Gains Traction

As fast market access moves into the European mainstream, market practitioners are shifting emphasis away from whether they should be adopting low-latency connectivity technologies, to how fast their connections are. As a result, latency measurement is expected to emerge as a prime consideration in the coming months, as firms try to figure out the most effective way to connect to the markets they trade on.

According to Atrium Network CEO Emmanuel Carjat, firms are accepting the need for more efficient and powerful network connections as they begin to see the benefits of low latency in trading performance.

As low latency consolidates its position as a primary concern among market practitioners, one of the main priorities will be in minimizing latency variation, or jitter, further underscoring the importance of latency measurement. One development underway over the next few months will be the adoption of Synchronized Ethernet, which uses synchronized clocks capable of measuring latency below the 100 millisecond limit in an attempt to reduce some of the variation in calculating theoretical latency.

Many data centre operators, such as Equinix and Interxion, have developed tools to help the client ascertain the lowest-latency connection from A to B, using available network providers. Carjat says Atrium Network encourages clients to test the latency themselves on a particular connection as they seek to find the best fit for their business model.

Since the launch of its Exchange Ring dark fibre connection to London’s markets earlier this year, Atrium often finds itself the first port of call for many clients evaluating their connectivity and collocation options. The service was launched with a handful of connected venues, including NYSE Euronext markets initially, swiftly followed by Bats Europe and Chi-X Europe. Connectivity has since expanded to a wider set of venues, with Nasdaq OMX Europe’s dark pool, Neuro Dark, and Quote MTF added within the last month and more expected to follow.

Atrium’s plan is to expand the Exchange Ring to all European venues while simultaneously calculating better connection routes to take in order to get the lowest possible latency and widest possible access. As a growing numbers of clients drift from North America to take advantage of some of the latest opportunities in Europe, Atrium has looked to create a compelling connectivity infrastructure at what it believes to be competitive pricing.

The second stage of development that Atrium will be focused on over the next few months will be expanding the limits of data clients can send and receive to cope with massive amounts of data now coming in from ECNs and other alternative trading systems across North America and Europe.