Moving into emerging markets around the globe is very much in the minds of major trading firms, and as a result, lowering the latency of access is of increasing importance. IntelligentTradingTechnology.com caught up with BSO Network Solutions managing director Fraser Bell to find out what the drivers are, and how his company is responding.
Q: How did BSO Network Solutions get started, and with what mission?
A: Founded in 2004, BSO Network Solutions is an international operator of network solutions and infrastructure. BSO Networks has offices in the UK, France and Hong Kong. We provide a global low latency Network across 18 countries, with hosting and co-lo in 50 data centres. As for business, our value is the reduction of transaction time across our network, and the collaboration of applications, network and data centres to produce a competitive advantage to our clients.
Q: What are your core offerings today, and how are they relevant to the financial markets?
A: As the global finance market grows, and expands into new markets, BSO is an emerging market specialist for finance, with market leading offerings from London to Dubai, Moscow, Hong Kong, and our knowledge and understanding of the established finance markets spanning the globe, means that we are uniquely placed to offer low latency, high availability networks to the finance sector.
Q: How are you differentiated in your business focus, compared to other companies offering financial markets networks?
A: BSO Network Solutions has developed a specific solutions: “Networks for Finance”: The best low latency routes available. Highly secured, highly available and highly reliable! We now have a dense network deployed in 18 countries, over 50 POPs and 16 economic cities. We can also deploy its network on demand, even in the most ‘exotic’ parts of the world.
Our DNA: serve our customers and provide them with a reliable partner to store, secure and deliver their data. A one to one relationship with a real understanding of their need. This is how we bring value with customers – most of which are market leaders within their section of the financial market.
Q: Where are you finding most interest in terms of destinations of emerging markets connectivity?
A: Clearly, the emerging market region is becoming increasingly attractive to businesses in Europe that are looking to get market entry or gain an advantage over the competition.
Increased deregulation in the Asian market has resulted in a significant number of new financial exchanges opening, and we’re seeing a wealth of opportunities for European businesses as a result. We’ve recently announced the opening of a new office in Hong Kong to meet this increased demand, along with investing in new routes in and around Asia, and additionally we have made investments into Dubai, Moscow and Turkey.
Q: What kinds of firms are looking to the emerging markets, and are their latency reduction requirements still as extreme as they are for connectivity between major centres?
A: There are lots of American and European firms, brokerages, HFT, banks, exchanges, most if not all of the financial markets are seeking opportunity in the emerging markets, and yes, the dependency is very much on low latency and high availability networks. The skill of BSO Network Solutions is building networks that deliver the low latency and highest availability, so that our clients can gain the competitive advantages they need. Some of our specific latencies are:
* London to Dubai RTD: 112 ms
* London to Hong Kong RTD: 176 ms
* London to Moscow RTD: 39 ms
Q: Can you elaborate on some of the particular challenges and nuances of working in emerging markets?
A: The challenges are those of knowledge, experience and ability to execute, and the given our business model, these challenges suit BSO Network Solutions very well, as we move fast, we understand complex and new environments quickly and our investment profiling suits the finance market, as we can deploy new services quickly. Particular challenges, are those of language, culture, industry standards and expectations that come from the developed markets, all of which are where we excel at cutting through the noise and getting our clients what they need.
Q: As emerging markets become established ones, where to next, or what next?
A: The Middle East and China are without doubt the main areas of interest and development for BSO Network Solutions, as they have the liquidity and interest to become financial trading hubs, and maybe replace some of the established centres that we have come rely on and recognise as the leaders in the financial world, and from an infrastructure perspective these markets are gaining ground very quickly on the established markets.
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