Taking the Linux Leap

Keeping up with the ever-changing times, Reuters has formed an alliance with HP, Intel and Red Hat to deliver its Reuters Market Data Service on a Linux platform. RMDS, which integrates real-time data and news, is now available on Intel-based HP ProLiant servers running Red Hat Linux Advanced Server.

While Reuters' market-data services have traditionally run on proprietary platforms such as Solaris, Unix and HP, this step into an open system environment will give customers greater performance and a lower total cost of ownership says Peter Lankford, Head of Real-Time Content-Management Solutions at Reuters. "We found that on a processor for processor basis, we get about two to five times the performance out of this platform compared to others," he adds.

For financial-services firms, Lankford points out that this processing speed and power can translate directly into several key benefits. "They will be able to get to market faster, accommodate more information and ultimately gain a competitive advantage," he says, adding that with workloads being processed on fewer servers and therefore fewer servers in place, firms can greatly reduce costs.

Lankford says that the idea to port over to Linux came directly from customers who were able to show their performance increases when they ported their own applications over to Linux. "We were surprised at the numbers," he says. "But our testing has proven them."

Casey Merkey, Global Program Manager RMDS on Linux at Reuters, says there were six large financial-services firms participating as beta clients in the formal testing program. Langford adds that customers can easily switch over to the Linux platform. "For an existing user to swap components out is not a big deal, it's a very modular system designed to interoperate," he says.

Anne Ambrose, Worldwide Director Brokerage and Asset Management at HP, says that the Linux migration is a growing trend in the financial-services industry. "There is a strategic shift in the technology supporting the trading room, they are moving away from Unix and the likes to reduce cost and act quickly," she adds.