Sydney-based Zeptonics is integrating network interface cards from Mellanox Technologies into its ZeptoMatch matching engine. The integration boasts wire-to-wire matching for a million orders per second with a median wire-to-wire match time of 1.97 microseconds and a typical client roundtrip of three microseconds.
ZeptoMatch is a software-only application, running on commodity x86/Red Hat Linux servers, with solid state storage. Mellanox ConnectX-3 EN 10gE network cards support network to application data flow using kernel bypass. “We developed all the software components ourselves, but even though we have considerable hardware design expertise in-house, we decided to use the Mellanox cards for the physical interface, and that has definitely helped us deliver a new low-latency benchmark for trade matching,” says David Snowdon, principal at Zeptonics.
Both FIX and an Ouch-based binary protocol are supported for order execution and an embedded firewall ensures the integrity of data packets. The matching engine can also be paired with ZeptoRisk, for pre-trade risk checking as increasingly required by regulators.
ZeptoMatch might typically be integrated with networking devices from Zeptonics. ZeptoMux is a 130-nanosecond layer 2 switch for in-bound multiplexing; and ZeptoLink, is 5-nanosecond circuit switch for fan-out of market data.
