About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

NovaSparks Fourth-Generation Ticker Plant Decreases Latency, Adds PCIe Card

Subscribe to our newsletter

NovaSparks has introduced a fourth-generation version of NovaTick that can decrease latency by 20% and process 10-times the number of symbols than its predecessor. The improvements result from the inclusion of Xilinx UltraScale+ FPGAs in the solution, which will allow banks and trading firms to accelerate their trading platforms without any compromise on scalability or feature set.

Olivier Baetz, chief operating officer at NovaSparks, says: “The platform’s format and API is identical to the last generation, and the way that it is configured and managed is identical to the third generation. We didn’t want to give up on feed coverage and robust features, but we did want to make a hardware upgrade and latency improvement that allows customers to do a lot more with a lot less hardware. The fourth generation is able to serve more use cases and includes a PCIe card, a new form factor that will go directly into the customer’s trading server.”

Luc Burgun, president and CEO at NovaSparks, adds: “The increase in NovaTick’s instrument capacity will enable full coverage of the US cash equity options markets, while its new PCIe form factor will offer a deployment option with a much lower total cost of ownership.”

In contrast to the previous platform, the fourth-generation ticker plant delivers a 20% average latency reduction for US equity markets down to 600 nanoseconds, and a 30% reduction for the CME down to 450 nanoseconds, measured wire-to-wire.

Existing NovaSparks customers will be able to upgrade to the new hardware without any change to the output format, the API, or the management and configuration software. The solution is targeted towards banks, traditional buy-side firms, and trading firms looking for low-latency solutions. The appliance version of the ticker plant is available for evaluation immediately, with the PCIe card due to be available at the end of January 2019.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Upcoming Webinar: Unlocking value: Harnessing modern data platforms for data integration, advanced investment analytics, visualisation and reporting

4 September 2025 10:00am ET | 3:00pm London | 4:00pm CET Duration: 50 Minutes Modern data platforms are bringing efficiencies, scalability and powerful new capabilities to institutions and their data pipelines. They are enabling the use of new automation and analytical technologies that are also helping firms to derive more value from their data and...

BLOG

Bloomberg Launches Strategy Optimizer to Streamline ETF Trading Workflow

Bloomberg has launched a new tool, Strategy Optimizer, aimed at enhancing the efficiency of exchange-traded fund (ETF) trading workflows while reducing execution costs. The solution is accessible via RFQe, Bloomberg’s ETF Request for Quote service, and is fully integrated with EMSX, the firm’s equities-focused execution management system. Strategy Optimizer allows portfolio managers and traders to...

EVENT

Buy AND Build: The Future of Capital Markets Technology

Buy AND Build: The Future of Capital Markets Technology London 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.

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...