Connell to Steer Correlix ‘Content’ Focus

Latency monitoring software provider Correlix will focus on expanding its product portfolio under new CEO Dan Connell, who joined the vendor on Dec. 6.

He replaces Gil Shaked, who left Correlix earlier this year to join Société Générale as managing director. Founder, president and CTO Shawn Melamed had performed the CEO duties in the interim, having previously served as CEO since 2005, when he started the company, until February of this year.

Connell was most recently executive-in-residence at private equity firm Spire Capital Partners, prior to which he was COO at Xinhua Finance, having previously served as president and CEO of Interactive Data's Comstock division and as an executive managing director at Standard & Poor's.

While acknowledging that leading a technology company is a change from his previous roles at content providers, Connell says Comstock was heavily focused on low-latency data delivery technologies, and that Correlix is "focused on developing content and becoming not just a latency monitoring technology company, but also a provider of latency content, analytics, and information that helps drive trading decisions. That's a bit different from others doing just latency monitoring."

As an example of content, Connell cites the latency data generated via its partnerships with exchanges such as Nasdaq, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and Direct Edge, which provide exchanges clients with transparency around latency.

"The more information we can provide around the full path of a trade and the full detail of a trade, the better prepared our clients will be to make trading decisions. And as we go forward, we will develop more products around that," Connell adds.