STAC Benchmark Council Approves Specification for Testing Direct-Feed Solutions

The STAC Benchmark Council, an organization comprised of leading trading firms and technology vendors, has approved the STAC-M1 Benchmark specification for testing a low-latency direct feed ticker plant solution, according to The Securities Technology Analysis Center (STAC), which announced the news this week.

This is the first in a series of proposed benchmarks for market data, execution, and analysis technology that the council has approved. The benchmark measures the latency, throughput, power efficiency and other key characteristics of solutions for handling high-speed market data from exchanges.

"The reason we made a big deal out of this is one, it proves the concept that you can get the players in the industry together and you can agree on a common performance language," said Peter Lankford, director of Chicago-based STAC Research, a firm that conducts research into the latest technology stacks for capital markets firms and their vendors.

This is a move to create a standard for testing the performance of trading technology, so that customers can compare different solutions on an apples-to-apples basis, says Lankford.

A draft of the STAC-M1 specification was used to test to Redline Trading Solutions' InRush embedded ticker plant, according to Lankford. STAC announced the Redline test results on Sept. 17th. In testing Redline, STAC used the draft STAC-M1.OPRA Benchmark. The full set of Redline's benchmark results is available at on STAC's Web site. Redline's InRush embedded ticker plant runs on an industry standard server with a Cell Broadband Engine acceleration coprocessor—the same coprocessor used in the Sony PlayStation. Based in Woburn, Mass., Redline is a spin off of Mercury Computers, which makes embedded devices for the military. Ivy is Editor-at-Large for Advanced Trading and Wall Street & Technology. Ivy is responsible for writing in-depth feature articles, daily blogs and news articles with a focus on automated trading in the capital markets. As an industry expert, Ivy has reported on a myriad ... View Full Bio

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