FIX Protocol Ltd. Launches FAST Protocol Version 1.2

FIX Protocol Ltd. (FPL announced a new release of the FIX Adapted for STreaming (FAST) Protocol Version 1.2, a data compression methodology that was developed to address ever-increasing electronic trading volumes and market data messaging rates. The new version offers incremental improvements to previous releases, enabling the industry to benefit from increased efficiency gains.

Working with existing adopters of the FAST Protocol, the FPL Market Data Optimization Working Group, (the team responsible for developing the FAST Protocol), has included enhancements that enable greater compatibility for the use of FIX with FAST, specifically with regards to enumerations, time stamps and Boolean data types.

FAST 1.2 was developed so that it’s fully compatible with version 1. 1. The new version is now publicly available and downloadable from the FPL website, at www. fixprotocol.org/fastspec.

Commenting on the launch of FAST 1.2 in the release, Greg Maynard, system & product strategy officer at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), stated, “The development of the FAST 1.1 standard presented a fantastic opportunity for the industry to benefit from reduced message size, reduced bandwidth requirements and improved latency. FAST 1.2 offers enhanced computing performance and I believe this will drive en greater adoptions of the standard,” stated Maynard who is a contributor to the FPL Market Data Optimization Working Group.

“FAST 1.2 was created through close collaboration between industry experts to improve functionality available and to advance the global trading process for all market participants,” noted Rolf Andersson, who is Co-Chair of the FPL Market Data Optimization Working Group, as well as CEO of Pantor Engineering, in the release.

Ivy is Editor-at-Large for Advanced Trading and Wall Street & Technology. Ivy is responsible for writing in-depth feature articles, daily blogs and news articles with a focus on automated trading in the capital markets. As an industry expert, Ivy has reported on a myriad ... View Full Bio