Mantara Cements Low-Latency Leadership - First to Provide U.S. Options Data On 24-Core Server

JERSEY CITY, N.J., April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Mantara, Inc., a provider of advanced technology solutions for high-frequency trading, announced that users of expressWay™, its integrated low-latency trading platform, now have ultra-low latency access to the entire U.S. equity options OPRA (Options Price Reporting Authority) data set.  Made possible by Mantara's single-server, 24-core processing implementation, traders can reap the benefits of real-time data availability and reliability even during market micro bursts, as well as ultra-low latency access to market liquidity.  

Immediate and accurate pricing data is essential to trader competitiveness.  As both the volume and percentage of electronic options trading continue to grow exponentially, the need for reliable, real-time market data has become an increasingly critical factor driving technology decisions. With an average of 500-600 thousand options price updates per second and over 2 million during burst levels, organizations typically require five or six servers to process the current volume of OPRA quotes and last sale data used by the trading community.

Through an innovative application of next-generation technology, Mantara is able to process all U.S. equity options plus cash equities data — on a single, 24-core server.  Leveraging the processing power of the most advanced multi-core technology available, expressWay easily handles the increasing speed and volume of equity options data, reducing the network hops inherent with multiple-server solutions, and eliminating the network latency associated with standard, two-tiered equity options feed handlers.

ExpressWay takes full advantage of the latest generation of software and hardware advances to achieve unprecedented performance. The option ticker plant was designed and implemented from inception to use in parallel; each available core afforded by today's advanced server technology. This approach serves as the technical foundation for expressWay's innovative low-latency solutions—and enables microsecond access to options and equities market data to provide traders with pricing advantage and more immediate liquidity capture.

"Industry participants from sponsoring broker-dealers to proprietary trading and buy-side firms are looking to shrink latency at every level of the trade process," said Brice Hamon, chief technology officer at Mantara. "Employing a single multi-core approach, expressWay was engineered to provide traders with a solution to the classic ultra-low latency market data access problem — and delivers fully normalized content with feed arbitration and high reliability, with the added benefit of running on standard off-the-shelf hardware for performance levels associated with more costly hardware-accelerated offerings."

To provide optimum performance and deliver the full potential of expressWay's advanced architecture, Mantara combines Concurrent Computer Corporation's real-time RedHawk Linux operating system with 24-core server technology to provide traders with a robust and highly reliable 24:7 solution — regardless of surges in market data.

"Concurrent's RedHawk Linux is specifically designed for time-critical data center applications such as Mantara's expressWay trading platform," said Ken Jackson, Concurrent VP of Real-Time Systems. "At Concurrent, we are committed to providing the low-latency and deterministic performance needed for key financial applications. We are delighted that our industry-standard RTOS offers the software environment and guaranteed response required in Mantara's market data ticker plant."

Kevin McPartland, Senior Analyst at the TABB Group, commented, "Without a doubt, the pursuit of low-latency solutions is a primary focus for institutions executing both high-frequency and traditional trading strategies.  However, the past few years have shown us that latency reduction can not sacrifice cost efficiencies therefore throwing hardware at the problem is no longer an acceptable approach.  Cost-effective, single-server solutions offer significant merit in the quest for ultra-low latency."

Mantara's low-latency solution provides further benefits to clients interested in collocating their options order processing activity.  Since processing power is concentrated on a single server, versus the multiple processors traditionally required to handle options execution, organizations are able to substantially lower collocation hardware costs. For institutions interested in ultra-low latency access to OPRA data, please contact [email protected]

About Mantara

Headquartered in Jersey City, NJ, Mantara, Inc. is transforming securities trading worldwide through the development and delivery of integrated, low-latency, high-speed trading and analytics solutions. With its next-generation expressWay trading platform, Mantara is positioned for leadership in the financial trading technology markets. For more information on Mantara, visit www.mantara.com.

Mantara and expressWay are registered trademarks of Mantara, Inc. in the United States.

SOURCE Mantara, Inc.