Fidessa group plc (LSE: FDSA) today announced the launch of its new low-latency DMA platform that provides brokers with high-performance, scalable and consistent access to global equity and derivatives markets. Built on Fidessa’s latest next-generation technology and delivered as a managed service, the platform helps firms reduce cost and improve efficiency by outsourcing the commoditized aspects of their market access infrastructure.

This is the first service to emerge from Fidessa’s Electronic Execution business, headed by David Polen, which focuses on technology to support brokers in delivering the low-touch, global, multi-asset execution capabilities that their clients are demanding.

Increasingly client order flow is routed through low-touch execution channels and yet brokers still struggle to provide a globally consistent service, especially across multiple asset classes. Those firms that do manage to achieve this are still challenged by the cost of owning and maintaining the entirety of their infrastructure and technology stack.

David Polen, Global Head of Electronic Execution at Fidessa, comments: “In Europe alone there were 175 markets registered at the end of 2007 and this has risen to around 280 today. Including the 60 or so markets that have come and gone in-between, that's more than 160 new venues – nearly double in just seven years. Just managing the mandatory upgrades across these markets is a resource-intensive overhead for any firm. In the US, the picture is further complicated by the existence of hundreds of different order types, while in Asia firms struggle with multiple trading and regulatory regimes. Keeping abreast of all this is an expensive proposition for brokers. And one that does not differentiate their service."

The new low-latency DMA platform insulates clients from the ever-changing global trading landscape, allowing them to focus on innovation in their own business. Besides low-latency market access, the new service also includes sophisticated frameworks around SOR, internalization, algo trading and risk management. These can all be seamlessly integrated into a firm's own systems and are available as a complete service or as separate modules, enabling them to offer a tailored, differentiated service to their own clients in the most cost-efficient manner.

"Central to the managed service is Fidessa's new global infrastructure that will underpin all our sell-side products", continues Polen. "It is hosted in co-lo and proximity datacenters around the world and delivered through dedicated, private infrastructure allowing complete control and fine-tuning of the hardware and connectivity to offer the optimum levels of service. As a result, we are able to provide a combination of functionality and performance that other vendors are simply unable to match – all managed and monitored in real-time and backed up by stringent SLAs and KPIs."

Fidessa's new low-latency DMA platform has been built in response to demand from brokers for consistent access to global markets based on a normalized trading interface and simple integration with their own systems. The service has been successfully piloted with clients in the US, Asia and Europe.