Nasdaq OMX Group is rolling out new enhancements and upgrades to its core trading technology known as INET, according to today'sannouncement. INET is the common technology utilized across Nasdaq OMX's U.S. and European markets, and also serves as the backbone for Genium, Nasdaq OMX's commercial technology offering.

"The new generation of our INET technology is integral to NASDAQ OMX's leadership in technology innovation, market transparency and in our ability to provide the best overall trading experience for investors,"commented Bob Greifeld, CEO of The NASDAQ OMX Group, in the release.

According Greifeld, Nasdaq OMX has raised the bar for technology for U.S. customers by demonstrating an ability to operate its global markets and technology business from a single powerful, core technology. With the recent migration of Nasdaq OMX PHLX to INET, the exchange operator is operating all U.S. markets on INET and will be using it across Europe by year's end, Greifeld stated in the release.

Citing its efficiency, scalability, reliability and ability to operate at microsecond speeds, the company said the next generation of INET technology has been rolled out over the course of 2009 and will continue throughout the course of 2010 for Nasdaq OMX's markets. INET technology is used across multiple asset classes and market structures, including equities, derivatives, commodities, and clearing platforms.

With U.S. equity trading volumes increasing over 120 percent in the last three years, Nasdaq OMX has built technology capable of handling over one million messages per second at sub-250 microsecond average speeds, which Nasdaq OMX claims is the fastest of any exchange in the world. Its proprietary trading software runs on a high-performance computing grid based on a 40-Gigabit per second network and multi-core processor technology.

As part of the INET rollout, Nasdaq OMX has implemented new electronic surveillance system technology to further strengthen the regulatory systems on Nasdaq OMX Markets.

"We operate in global markets that are defined by increasing volume, complexity and interconnectedness. Against that backdrop, we focus on evolving our technology to meet and stay in front of the demand created by those trends," stated Anna Ewing, Nasdaq OMX's Chief Information Officer. Ewing said that Nasdaq OMX honed its ability to support highly competitive, high-volume markets in building technology for the The Nasdaq Stock Market, the largest pool of liquidity in the U.S and 70 exchanges around the world.

"The importance of this technology was further underscored by the financial crisis, when we saw the importance of speed, capacity and reliability to well-functioning markets. Through ongoing technological innovation, we will continue to build on those core strengths and our leadership in the U.S. and European markets," stated Ewing in the release.