Sell-Side Technology Awards 2014: Best Datacenter Provider to the Sell Side — Nasdaq OMX

Through the access services division, part of its global market services business unit, Nasdaq OMX provides sell-side customers with access to exchange connectivity and co-location services, disaster recovery, failovers, and redundancies. It has invested heavily in upgrading its cooling, power, fire prevention, security, and redundancy capabilities. As a result, 80 percent of its client co-located cabinets are now in sections of the datacenter—located in Carteret, New Jersey, and owned by Verizon—that are less than two years old, with tier-three redundancy, according to the exchange operator.

In a testament to the robustness and effectiveness of its hosting capabilities, Nasdaq OMX was able to maintain its various services during Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, despite there being a lack of commercial power available throughout the Tri-State area. According to the firm, the majority of the total US equities and options trading flows though its datacenter every day, primarily because of its integration with the Finra/Nasdaq Trade Reporting Facility (TRF), where all OTC trades must be reported for US equities.

“It is an honor to be recognized for the Nasdaq OMX datacenter as we offer the sell-side community a state-of-the-art facility and an unparalleled trading experience for equities, derivatives and more asset classes as we grow our footprint in the fixed-income, currencies, and commodities arenas,” said Hans-Ole Jochumsen, executive vice president of global market services at Nasdaq OMX, in a statement. “I’m proud of our team, which has developed an ecosystem that is not only functionally complete, but also demonstrates operational resiliency to maintain continuous markets.”

The datacenter houses the firm’s array of markets under the Nasdaq umbrella, the most recent being the Nasdaq OMX eSpeed Fixed Income Market. This latest launch joins, among others, Nasdaq OMX Stock Market, Nasdaq BX Stock Market, Nasdaq PSX Stock Market, Nasdaq PHLX Options Market, Nasdaq OMX Options Market, Nasdaq BX Options Market and Nasdaq Futures Market.

“I’m proud of our team, which has developed an ecosystem that is not only functionally complete, but also demonstrates operational resiliency to maintain continuous markets.” —Hans-Ole Jochumsen, Nasdaq OMX