Fixnetix

When milliseconds matter

For Fixnetix clients in the capital markets, high speed, low latency trading can offer an increased competitive advantage. That makes physical proximity to leading exchanges critical to the firm’s data centre strategy.

“To provide a truly low latency service, we need to maximise the efficiency of our network,” says Steve Hewson, Director of Operations & Service at Fixnetix, “part of that means trading infrastructure needs to be as close as possible to the exchanges our clients want to trade on”. To achieve this, Fixnetix needs to host infrastructure inside ‘liquidity hubs’ – that is, data centres that house, or are near to, the matching engines for major financial exchanges.

Of course, speed isn’t the only consideration for Fixnetix or its clients. The firm’s exacting service level agreements, specifying strict response and resolution times for any incidents, must also be rigorously upheld to maintain customer trust. Fixnetix hosting providers must be able to match its commitment to rock-solid resiliency.

Any hosted data centre must also offer a diverse range of carrier options to meet Fixnetix performance, reliability and security demands. To ensure clients never lose connectivity, the Fixnetix global network is designed to failover to redundant routes: “Traffic is always routed via the fastest path to its destination,” says Hewson, “but if the primary circuit goes down, clients are automatically switched over to the next fastest alternative”.

Trading places: the value of central London hosting

Interxion’s London data centre campus offers Fixnetix the ideal hosting location, since its clients need fast connectivity to the nearby London Stock Exchange. “Interxion’s facility is just a stone’s throw from the LSE, driving latencies down into single digit milliseconds,” says Hewson. “Even better, another important exchange for our clients already has servers located in the same facility, ensuring the fastest access possible. It’s a win-win.”

Interxion’s London campus may offer the perfect location, but Fixnetix readily points out several other factors influencing its decision. “Interxion has a very strong pedigree in capital markets, so its service levels are as rigorous as our own,” says Jason Mochine, Commercial Director at Fixnetix. Citing factors like 24/7 on-site support, built-in redundancies for connectivity, power and cooling, as well as comprehensive disaster recovery capabilities, he adds: “We know Interxion can support us in meeting the strict SLAs our clients demand.”

With more than 80 carriers and connectivity providers in its London campus, Interxion also boasts excellent links to other liquidity venues and the Fixnetix Pan-European infrastructure, strengthening the managed service firm’s resilience against any network outages.

Additionally, Interxion’s London Financial Services hub is one of the most established data centre communities in Europe. “Our neutrality attracts a wide range of carriers, service providers and financial market participants, giving Fixnetix additional options to broaden its services,” says Interxion’s Bill Fenick. “It’s a hotspot of trading activity”, agrees Mochine, “and if a trading venue, financial service provider, partner or customer is located anywhere in Interxion’s London campus, we can cross-connect to them quickly and easily”.

‘They understand our needs’

Since signing up with Interxion in late 2009, Fixnetix reports that on-boarding new clients has become very straightforward. “We have an account manager who always takes the time to understand our needs,” says Ed Worsfold, Head of Infrastructure at Fixnetix, “as a result we know Interxion will get the engineering done right”. This long-standing relationship also saves Fixnetix a considerable amount of time. Interxion knows what’s needed when it comes to any new implementations, allowing Fixnetix to focus its resources on getting new clients up and running smoothly.

Since Fixnetix aims to grow relationships with its clients over time, hosting with Interxion also adds much needed scalability. As Fixnetix clients adopt more services, the managed services firm relies on Interxion to support its own infrastructure expansion. “By hosting with Interxion, we can scale up our infrastructure easily, without long lead times or a significant uplift in real-estate costs,” says Worsfold, “that  means our clients have more flexibility and choice, as well as access to best-in-class technologies and services”.

As a business driven by client demand, Fixnetix has no reservations about coming back to Interxion when new needs arise. Jason Mochine looks forward to the long relationship between the two companies continuing: “It’s good to have a partner who understands our industry and our business. By meeting the exacting standards of ourselves and our client base, Interxion definitely contributes to our capabilities, our customer satisfaction and, by extension, our wider success as a company”.