About a-team Marketing Services

A-Team Insight Blogs

CME’s Aurora Co-Lo: Quick Facts

Subscribe to our newsletter

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange opened its new data centre – housing the Globex matching engine – in August, 2010. Now it’s planning to add co-location services, beginning January 29, 2012. Here’s some more information …

– The data centre is located in Aurora, IL – 40 miles west of the city.

– It is a 428,000+ square foot facility (by comparison, NYSE Euronext’s Mahwah liquidity centre is 400,000 square feet), with two 138,000 volt power sources.  92 megawatts of redundant power is available.

– Low-latency connectivity to Globex is via the internal GLink network, with all connections equidistant to provide equality of access.

– GLink is available at 1 and 10 gigabit per second connections, though inbound rate for both is limited to 1 gigabit.

– Cross connects (between trading firms and third party vendors) within the facility are allowed, and access to GPS antena for latency monitoring/time synchronisation are available.

– Some suggest that pricing will be between $15,000 and $19,000 per month for a 52U rack. Plus a $10,000 deposit per rack.

– Bulk Transport is the name given to a fibre optic connection back to the old matching and co-lo centre at 350 East Cermak Street in Chicago proper. Intercontinental Exchange is there, as is Equinix’s data centre and Telx.

– A number of third party connectivity providers are expected to connect into Aurora. The current approved list of providers comprises: AboveNet, AT&T, Hudson Fibre Network, Level 3 Communications, NTT Communications, Sidera Networks and Verizon.

– Not on the CME’s list today, Anova Technologies’ CEO Mike Persico says the company plans to provide the fastest route between Aurora and 350 East Cermak.

– Spread Networks, which operates the fastest network between 350 East Cermak and various endpoints in the NYC metro region has already stated it does not plan to link directly into Aurora.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Upcoming Webinar: Unlocking Competitive Edge with Outsourcing and Managed Services in Trading Technology

30 April 2025 10:00am ET | 3:00pm London | 4:00pm CET Duration: 50 Minutes Outsourcing has emerged as a strategic solution for capital markets firms as trading technology infrastructures become more complex, data volumes grow exponentially, and regulatory pressures intensify. .By leveraging third-party expertise, firms can optimise operations, reduce costs, and focus on innovation in...

BLOG

Quincy Data Launches Sub-Nanosecond Time Synchronisation Service

Quincy Data, provider of ultra-low latency market data technology, has introduced a Time Synchronisation as a Service (TSaaS) offering, designed to deliver sub-nanosecond accuracy for firms operating across major US financial exchanges. The service, which operates in the New Jersey and Chicago metropolitan regions, provides a plug-and-play solution for precise time distribution, addressing growing industry...

EVENT

TradingTech Summit MENA

The inaugural TradingTech Summit MENA takes place in November and examines the latest changes and innovations in trading technology and explores how technology is being deployed to create an edge in sell side and buy side capital markets financial institutions in the region.

GUIDE

Institutional Digital Assets Handbook 2024

Despite the setback of the FTX collapse, institutional interest in digital assets has grown markedly in the past 12 months, with firms of all sizes now acknowledging participation in some form. While as recently as a year ago, institutional trading firms were taking a cautious stance toward their use, the acceptance of tokenisation, stablecoins, and...