Sector Data Offers Real-Time Market-Data Services Through Savvis' Financial Xchange Network

As an alternative to the traditional Internet delivery of its market-data services, Sector Data is now making its SectorEngine available via Savvis' Financial Xchange network. Customers such as traders, analysts and fund managers, will have the option to connect to the SectorEngine real-time market data application through Savvis' private IP VPN.

"Our products were designed to work over the Internet and Savvis allows us to serve customers in a cost-compelling format," explains Madeline Duva, vice president of business development at Sector Data. She adds that market data is time sensitive so reliability and security, as well as cost, were important drivers behind this effort.

Jim Leach, assistant vice president of market development at Savvis, agrees though that cost was still a major factor during these economic times. "In this difficult market we're seeing a flight to value in market data, so this is offering to the end user great opportunities to get the service levels they need at price points they can afford," he says. The arrangement leverages Savvis' existing connections to over 4,700 financial institutions in order to provide the connections at a lower price-point and get applications up and running faster.

"They are using the Savvis infrastructure to combine multiple applications on a single local circuit," he says. "So each application gets the performance and security guaranteed that it needs." In addition, Leach says that this arrangement lets Sector Data concentrate on its core competencies. "Sector Data offers a powerful set of applications but they're not in the networking business, Savvis is," he says.

Duva points out that for Sector Data customers such as the Pacific Stock Exchange, this type of delivery is important. "The data has to be there and it has to be reliable, secure and fast," she says.

She says that customers interested in utilizing the Savvis network delivery should first determine if they already have a network connection with Savvis, if they need additional bandwidth for that connection or if they need a new connection. She adds that customers that do not already have a network connection to Savvis will have to install the necessary T1 lines, which can be done in 30 business days or less, depending on the network carrier.