NYSE Euronext Selects AboveNet, Juniper To Link U.S., European Data Centres

Dark fibre network provider AboveNet has been selected by NYSE Euronext to connect NYSE Euronext’s new data centres in the New York and London areas. The data centres are currently under development in Mahwah, in Northern New Jersey, and in Basildon, Essex.

Details of the deal have emerged following the earlier announcement of Juniper Networks’ involvement in the project to connect NYSE Euronext’s U.S. and European data centres via an ultra low-latency connection. NYSE Euronext plans to leverage the high-performance switching and routing technologies of the Juniper Networks EX Series Ethernet Switches and MX Series Ethernet Services Routers to link its centres, with connections provided via AboveNet’s high-speed dark-fibre network.

NYSE Euronext aims to offer high-speed access to order messages and other market data via the network, which will is being designed to serve as the company’s operational hubs handling several billion transactions per day. The new data centre facilities are expected to be operational early next year. The network will also provide access to co-location facilities in the new data centres.

According to Andy Bach, senior vice president, communications, at NYSE Euronext, “Working with AboveNet, we will implement a highly optimized optical network offering minimal latency to and from our data centres, while maintaining superior route diversity. This will ensure that we continue to provide the lowest latency, highest-capacity access for our customers now and in the future.”

The networking initiative is a strategic one. NYSE Euronext has described the aim as the design of “a state-of-the-art, ultra-low latency core network for NYSE Euronext’s new consolidated global data centres” in the New York and London metropolitan areas. Steve Rubinow, executive vice president and co-global CIO of NYSE Euronext, describes the goal as the creation of “a next-generation data centre fabric that will enable us to scale to tens of thousands of 10GbE ports.”

The two new data centres in London and New York metro areas will be the primary operational infrastructure for NYSE Euronext supporting several billion daily transactions and quotes across diverse asset classes and geographies, and will be instrumental in the exchange group’s effort to consolidate the total number of global data centres from 10 to four, with two in New York metro area and one each in London and Paris. The two new data centres, will use Juniper’s Data Centre Infrastructure Solutions to achieve internal latency of 50 microseconds roundtrip.

“Juniper’s simplified data centre approach will allow us to deploy a complete 10 Gigabit Ethernet network with ultra-low latency at a substantial cost savings,” says Rubinow. Juniper’s technologies, he says, will allow NYSE Euronext to deploy a very high capacity, low latency network, allowing it to scale to tens of thousands of 10GbE ports. The new NYSE Euronext network will make use of Juniper Networks EX Series Ethernet Switches and MX Series Ethernet Services Routers.

Kevin Johnson, CEO of Juniper Networks, says: “The NYSE Euronext technology vision is in alignment with Juniper’s next generation data centre roadmap, which will lead to the creation of a single data centre fabric that will deliver a quantum advance in scale, performance and simplicity, while lowering energy consumption and reducing overall operating costs.”

With the network infrastructure project, NYSE Euronext is seeking to exploit synergies from the merger of NYSE with Euronext that created the transatlantic group in 2007. By collapsing the multiple switching layers present in traditional network architectures, the new simplified NYSE Euronext network design requires fewer devices and interconnections, leading to improved efficiencies in space, power, cooling and management.

Juniper Networks reckons its Data Centre Infrastructure Solutions can reduce network complexity and total cost of ownership by up to 52% in capital expenditures, up to 44% in power, up to 44% in cooling and up to 55% in data centre rack space.

The data centre core designs are anchored by the EX8216 Ethernet Switch, purpose-built to deliver wire-speed performance, low latency, carrier-class reliability and scalability. This will enable NYSE Euronext to consolidate network layers and reduce capital and operational expenses across the infrastructure.

The architecture uses top-of-rack EX2500 Ethernet Switches to provide access connectivity to the data centres’ high-performance servers with 10GbE ports that deliver wire-speed throughput. NYSE Euronext also plans to leverage the advanced routing capabilities, such as MPLS network virtualization, low-latency multicast, advanced quality of service (QoS), and high availability of Juniper’s family of MX Series Ethernet Services Routers.

The EX8216 and MX Series run on Junos Software, a single source operating system that integrates routing, switching, security and network services, offering NYSE Euronext network administrators the ability to quickly and cost-effectively keep up with changing business demands and easily customize new services and applications.

For AboveNet, its selection by NYSE Euronext is a significant win. The U.S.-headquartered company has announced plans for expansion in the London marketplace, and the link to the NYSE Euronext data centre in Basildon, about 30 miles east of the City of London, gives it a high-profile reference account as it seeks to exploit its significant presence in the London financial services marketplace.

AboveNet is seeking to emerge from the shadows, having spent the past 10 years supplying London market practitioners with both fibre-based metro area network connectivity and IP network services. The company has said that it plans to grow connectivity by adding a record number of buildings to its dedicated London fibre network during the coming year. With direct connections into a significant number of key buildings across the capital, AboveNet offers connectivity to 30 major data centre and co-location facilities, as well as leading exchanges, MTFs, brokers and investment houses.

As well as the NYSE Euronext deal, AboveNet’s London operation – headed by managing director John Donaldson – recently joined the Equinix Financial exchange community to enhance connectivity between Equinix’s Slough-based data centre and its City operations. It also has provided an ultra-low latency, highly resilient fibre solution for Bats Europe, and is delivering ultra-low latency connectivity and proximity hosting for organisations needing to access Chi-X Europe’s market data and trading platform services, again hosted in Slough.

Says Donaldson: “Whether you’re the London Stock Exchange or a new MTF like Chi-X or Bats wanting to enhance accessibility, a prime broker looking to send order flow to more competitive markets, or an asset manager needing to access continuous streams of global market data, today’s financial services connectivity imperatives require ultra-low latency, unquestionable reliability, the highest levels of security and complete flexibility.” To meet this requirement, he says, “we’re continuing to invest in the future of our network as we extend our infrastructure to reach new financial services centres such as Basildon, and make sure we can offer our customers the fastest direct routes between key financial locations.”

Donaldson reckons “new trading patterns and market entrants, as well as the growth in alternative trading strategies through automated and algorithmic engines, all mean that ultra-low latency performance has become a pre-requisite for today’s financial services firms – it’s no longer just a competitive advantage.” He believes AboveNet is now able to offer private fibre optic solutions that are “cost-competitive with traditional networks.”

In the London area, the AboveNet fibre footprint extends from Basildon and Docklands in the east, through the City and West End, out to Slough and Heathrow in the west.

Brett Johnson, head of business development at AboveNet in London, says the company’s combination of dark fibre and IP services capabilities can allow it to grow with clients. AboveNet offers metro fibre services in 15 markets in North America, and can link via IP network to Germany, France and Holland. The company’s point-to-point connections, he says, allows it to focus on serving the high-performance, low-latency marketplace, competing in London with the likes of EU Networks and Colt.

AboveNet originally built out its infrastructure to support the disaster-recovery-oriented needs of its clients, which required massive data storage capabilities with high-speed replication. It turns out that that infrastructure is now well suited to the growing low-latency demands of financial markets practitioners as execution venues become increasingly electronic.

The company’s London area network features a series of rings that allows it to offer diverse paths, as well as diverse routes into client sites. It has been careful to ensure that it owns the wayleaves at client sites, which means that access remains after a client moves on to new premises.