Time Is Money: Managing the Performance of Financial Trading Applications

Trading activity between exchanges, brokerage firms, hedge funds, and other financial services companies is a core component of the world economy. With trillions of dollars traded annually on the NASDAQ alone, financial services companies are investing heavily in optimizing electronic trading applications and infrastructure, with the aim of providing nearly instantaneous access to the markets. Put simply, when buying or selling electronically, a one-millisecond performance advantage can be worth millions. The need to acquire and sustain this advantage has created a fiercely competitive landscape, where financial services companies must frequently upgrade and monitor their order management system (OMS) and IT infrastructure.