About a-team Marketing Services

A-Team Insight Blogs

Lowering the Latency at SIFMA

Subscribe to our newsletter

The annual SIFMA financial tech expo has just concluded in NYC, and here are a few of the low-latency highlights – from an event that sadly overall looks to be heading for the twilight zone.

* Best in show in my book was Zeptonics, launching its ZeptoLink fan-out and electronic patch panel, with port to port latency of between five and seven nanoseconds. Like its sister ZeptoMux – many to one – device, it does very specific jobs very fast – much faster than a fully-featured network switch from the likes of Cisco Systems or Arista Networks.

* Announcements from the likes of Lightower Networks, Hudson Fiber Networks, Orange Business Services, Telx and Equinix suggest that the world of connectivity, co-lo and managed services continues to have plenty of action. The opening of connectivity into NYSE Euronext’s Mahwah facility is driving new services – “We have to do it,” suggests one network provider.

* CFN Services and xCelor announced a partnership to reduce the complexity of delivering low-latency market data via microwave. CFN’s Alpha Platform leverages FPGA-based technology from xCelor to support simultaneous active data paths and manage the complex failover from microwave to fibre, ensuring consistent data delivery with the lowest latency.

* Transaction Cost Analysis is coming more into focus, as trading firms look to make the most profit from fewer trades in depressed markets, and beyond equities.  Latency is going to be a key input into reducing price slippage. TradingScreen and OneMarketData have stories to tell in this area.

* McObject released eXtremeDB Financial Edition. The in-memory database now supports column-based data layouts – for time series data – and vector-based statistical functions, also aimed at time series processing.

* Other low-latency focuses at the show – with good representation – were FPGA/network card combinations, and latency monitoring/time synchronisation technologies.

Overall, though, with a much reduced exhibitor lineup, and delegate attendance way down, one wonders what next year will bring. A few of the vendors said they still had a positive experience. But many said they wouldn’t be back.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Upcoming Webinar: The Role of Data Fabric and Data Mesh in Modern Trading Infrastructures

23 September 2025 10:00am ET | 3:00pm London | 4:00pm CET Duration: 50 Minutes The demands on trading infrastructure are intensifying. Increasing data volumes, the necessity for real-time processing, and stringent regulatory requirements are exposing the limitations of legacy data architectures. In response, firms are re-evaluating their data strategies to improve agility, scalability, and governance....

BLOG

IPC Acquires Intracom Systems to Strengthen Financial Market Communication Solutions

IPC, the global provider of trading communications technology and financial market connectivity, has acquired Intracom Systems, a specialist in software-based communication solutions. The move is set to enhance IPC’s integrated communication offerings across the financial services sector, spanning front, middle, and back-office operations. The acquisition will see Intracom’s push-to-talk matrix technology integrated into IPC’s flagship...

EVENT

RegTech Summit New York

Now in its 9th year, the RegTech Summit in New York will bring together the RegTech ecosystem to explore how the North American capital markets financial industry can leverage technology to drive innovation, cut costs and support regulatory change.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...