16 July 2016
London-based Fidessa provides 85 per cent of the world’s major financial institutions with their trading and investment infrastructure, market data, and workflow technology. Transactions worth $20 trillion are said to flow across the company’s global network each year, and low latency connectivity that is stable and reliable are all therefore crucial.
As part of the regular evaluation of its existing network providers, Fidessa first engaged BSO Network Solutions in 2013 when searching for a supplier to deliver a totally diverse route between Singapore and Hong Kong that both regional and global customers could leverage.
Mark Bever, Fidessa’s global head of data centres and procurement, says: “Singapore is a critical location for many of our customers. However, connecting such a complex region was always going to be challenging from a network perspective. We felt success would be dependent on finding a provider with the necessary specialist skills and knowledge of [the country]. Essentially, we needed a team to guide us through the region’s particularities as well as source the appropriate connectivity.”
Alongside cultural challenges, other considerations included technical requirements such as the need for new diverse switching technology and ultra-low latencies between locations.
To ease Fidessa’s concerns, BSO designed a staggered sourcing and deployment framework. This involved the company utilising its established relationships in the region and extensive knowledge of global intra-region connectivity.
The Singapore-Hong Kong network included three stages. Firstly, BSO identified a suitable network link on its backbone with the necessary switching technology; secondly, it negotiated a commercially beneficial contract for Fidessa and its customers; and thirdly, it managed the service delivery and testing process to ensure a smooth transition that met the deadline. The network route was operational in just three months.
Following the success of the project, BSO worked with Fidessa to enhance its transatlantic connectivity with the addition of network routes and data centre services linking the key locations of London, New York and Chicago. BSO has also supported Fidessa’s recent move to a new data centre location in Hong Kong, and has also added Tokyo to its route map.
