At a time when global stock exchanges are experiencing intense volatility and speculative, high-volume trading as the Covid-19 pandemic impacts equities markets, Transaction Network Services (TNS) has reported its North American backbone network recorded zero packet loss during the highest market data volume periods it has ever seen.
This means no TNS customers’ trades were lost and critical market data was not dropped or delayed.
“Trading firms rightfully hold their service providers to high standards, and while in recent months every provider’s network has been tested by some of the most extreme market conditions possible, TNS has passed with flying colours,” says Tom Lazenga, TNS’ Vice President of Global Sales. “TNS is always looking for ways to future proof our network and prepare for these unprecedented events, so that if and when they happen, our customers can rest assured that they won’t be impacted.”
To ensure customers’ data will not be lost or delayed because of insufficient network capacity, poor configuration or lack of network resiliency, TNS has spent the past year shoring up its network with acquisitions and upgrades to prepare for the ever-present possibility of volatile market conditions and high trade volume. These preparations have included:
• Acquiring Chicago-based trading technology provider NetXpress to augment TNS’ financial services portfolio with ultra-low latency exchange connectivity at 11 key global locations across North American, Europe and Asia
• Upgrading and expanding network capacity by investing in dark fiber in the New York Triangle, adding up to 4TB of bandwidth to better manage market data and avoid bottlenecks
• Enhancing its TNSXpress Market Data solution for the equities and futures markets with a new Layer 1 architecture that can deliver speeds 10 times faster than traditional networks.
“To be successful, trading firms, especially high-frequency traders, need to be able to capitalize on the exact right moment to execute a trade,” adds Jeff Mezger, Director of Product Management for TNS’ Financial Services business. “If their provider’s network infrastructure drops or delays the data that would trigger an order, or if the order itself gets lost because of a network outage, that can impact a firm’s results.
“Despite some of the most volatile trading periods seen in recent history, wherein market volumes are doubling and trading activity is at an all-time high, we are proud to report TNS’ network equipment recorded zero packet loss across its backbone network. This is a direct testament to our talented engineering and operations teams who work diligently to ensure our infrastructure is designed and managed to meet the needs of market participants globally.”
