Direct Edge Selects Greenline for Automated Testing Solution

Direct Edge, the third largest US stock exchange operator, has chosen Greenline Financial Technologies, a CameronTec Company, to deliver a comprehensive automated testing solution.

The deployment with Greenline will enable Direct Edge to strengthen its time-to-market and quality assurance for electronic trading connectivity.

[For more on BATS-Direct Edge Merger Receives Anti-Trust Clearance, see Ivy Schmerken's related story.]

Direct Edge utilized Greenline’s VeriFIX product suite to test both the FIX Protocol and 11 proprietary protocols that are used in electronic trading and for sending market data to its members. Direct Edge runs multiple protocols, explained Saro Jahani, chief information officer, in an email. Greenline added all the protocols, (including FIX, outbound and inbound CQS, CTS, UTDF, and UQ, as well as multicast and unicast market data, "so that we could test them through the VerFIX tool," wrote Jahani in an email.

Testing has become a hot topic in the industry with the series of technical meltdowns and trading halts in the past few months. Exchanges that operate computerized trading platforms and networks are looking at ways to improve automated testing for new order types and other services.

Direct Edge has significantly shortened its testing timeliness to increase efficiencies, reduce costs and mitigate market and reputational risk, according to the release. This has allowed for shorter test cycle and resulted in quicker release turnaround times, saving time and resources. Specifically, VeriFIX has helped Direct Edge decrease the timeline for full regression testing form several weeks to a matter of hours.

“The Direct Edge and Greenline partnership continues to be instrumental in providing us with quick time to market capabilities and improved quality assurance of our FIX protocol and proprietary protocol environments as well as our GUI based applications.” stated Jahani, CIO for Direct Edge in the release. “Our Quality Assurance team and Greenline Professional services continue to raise our automation capabilities and now include component level testing and a state of the art test run reporting and results analysis engine.”

VeriFIX can adapt to multiple phases of the testing lifecycle, and serves as a complement to Direct Edge’s lean Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) processes. Areas of improvement in Direct Edge’s development lifecycle include: unit, targeted component level, and continuous integration testing.

According to Josh Tolman, Deputy CEO at CameronTec, the deployment helped Direct Edge gain more time-to-market efficiencies for ongoing deployments of their Connect Edge system, a high-speed, low latency network. Connect Edge allows customers to access Direct Edge through multiple Points of Presence (PoP) by cross-connecting from within their own facility to a Connect Edge PoP. In addition, Connect Edge allows customers to leverage their connections to receive raw market data feeds from liquidity destinations including exchanges, ECNs and dark pools, as well as send orders to other market centers.

Greenline Professional Services, a consulting arm, supported the project by defining and implementing the test automation strategy

“Our accomplishments with Direct Edge are another example of how Greenline’s Professional Services and VeriFIX can raise the quality of service for market participants,” commented Tolman in the release. “At Greenline, we work directly with our customers to ensure a positive return on their technology investment is achieved through the use of Greenline’s tool set and services. Software development lifecycle efficiencies and proactive operational support are the driving forces behind Greenline’s vision and solutions,” said Tolman.

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