Waters Rankings 2016: Best Low-Latency Data Feed Provider — ICE Data Services

ICE Data Services, previously known as Interactive Data before its acquisition by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in October 2015, was able to prove doubters wrong and demonstrate its consistency with its second straight win in the best low-latency data feed provider category.

Last year, Interactive Data broke Thomson Reuters’ streak of five straight wins in this category. It would be natural for many to question whether Waters’ readers were simply looking for a new face in the winners’ circle in 2015. That wasn’t the case, though, thanks to this year’s win.

What’s truly remarkable about the win isn’t just the fact that ICE Data Services was able to remain in the winners’ circle, but that it did so despite the upheaval that comes with a massive acquisition. Waters’ sibling publication Inside Market Data reported that the deal, which ICE announced last October, was worth up to $5.2 billion. ICE bought the market and reference data provider from private equity firms Silver Lake Partners and Warburg Pincus. 

“This transaction furthers our expansion into meeting the financial information needs of our market participants globally. With our diverse markets across virtually all asset classes, IDC will enable us to address more growth opportunities by leveraging the distribution and reach of our complementary global platforms for trading, clearing and data on a combined basis,” said Jeffrey Sprecher, ICE CEO, in a statement at the time of the announcement. 

The acquisition was followed by Stephen Daffron, Interactive Data’s president and CEO since September 2013, and Mason Slaine, the firm’s executive chairman since 2013, both stepping down less than a month later, as reported by Inside Market Data. And yet, despite all the disruption, the firm continued to improve its offering. In June, ICE Data Services announced that it was expanding its data services to include propriety exchange data from ICE and the New York Stock Exchange’s 11 global exchanges. “We will continue to invest and innovate to offer actionable views of global markets to support decision making whether for trading, investment, operations or risk management,” Sprecher said in a statement.