Spot Trading Sets the Pace for Other Trading Firms Looking to Move to the Cloud

CHICAGO, July 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Spot Trading L.L.C., a leading Chicago-based proprietary trading firm, announced improved time and resource efficiencies as a result of migrating components of their infrastructure to the cloud, furthering the cloud migration process started by YJT Solutions, a top-tier IT managed services firm headquartered in Chicago.

Over six years ago, YJT Solutions architected and migrated Spot to a private cloud by utilizing VMWare which saved time, money, and resources, allowing their internal IT department to focus on more critical and strategic projects, and helped Spot first realize the potential of cloud solutions.  Last week, Spot signed an agreement with Riverbed Technology to move file storage to the cloud with Riverbed® Whitewater® backup appliances.  Moving from tape backup to Whitewater with support for Amazon Glacier storage will cut Spot's storage costs in half.  In addition, by leveraging the cloud device for file storage and source control, Spot has ensured that they will be able to seamlessly expand their software infrastructure without needing to expand their on-premises SAN infrastructure.

"Our migration to the cloud has been an iterative process," said Chief Technology Officer and Partner of Spot Trading Nigel Young.  "Years ago we invested heavily in private cloud technologies that enabled us to dynamically scale our IT infrastructure with our business growth.  We have been strategic (and a little bit cautious) about where and when we migrate to public cloud solutions.  This phase of cloud adoption is a hybrid approach with hardware hosted within our infrastructure that leverages public cloud capabilities.  If you look at our approach as three-phased, YJT Solutions helped us get the ball rolling in Phase I Private Cloud, and the Riverbed Whitewater cloud storage appliance is helping us through Phase II Hybrid Cloud.  We will continue to look toward YJT Solutions to drive and design Phase III as an augmented part of our IT team."

"Spot is one of the early innovators in the trading industry who is capitalizing on the strategic nature of the cloud" said Linda Bracken Maclachlan, CEO of YJT Solutions. "We know that the move to the cloud can be a difficult one due to security and latency concerns, but Spot's utilization of a hybrid cloud and the deliberate and measured approach they've used in determining next steps is the perfect way to both capitalize on the cost benefits, ease and versatility of cloud solutions while also ensuring that they're mitigating risks and staying within compliance parameters.  Nigel has always been a thought leader in technology, and this cloud migration is no exception."

Looking forward, Spot will continue to explore solutions that make strategic sense for their firm.  Daily backups will most likely be housed by a third party cloud vendor, and Spot projects that all non-critical, virtual servers will soon follow.  YJT Solutions is currently completing a monitoring proof of concept that would be entirely housed within Spot's cloud with the potential to be outsourced to a public cloud as stability and security continue to improve. 

"The possibilities for cloud technology within Spot are tremendous," said Young.  "They could help us to reduce our fixed cost base while enabling us to do things we simply cannot do today.  I'm excited to continue with our iterative approach and see what the future holds."

Spot Trading LLC is a technology-driven proprietary trading firm based in Chicago. Founded in 1999, Spot has grown to be a leading liquidity provider and market-maker for the U.S. exchange-listed equity options markets. Spot deploys a highly integrated model, where traders, quantitative analysts, equity analysts and technologists work closely together to capitalize on pricing opportunities in the market. Spot has developed an institutionalized and scalable trading platform that promotes collaboration, manages firm-wide risk and uses proprietary technology to enable high performance and a trading edge.

About YJT Solutions: Located in the heart of downtown Chicago, YJT Solutions provides professional and managed IT services with a targeted emphasis on helping tomorrow's best CIOs evolve by providing exceptional operational help.  YJT Solutions acts as a consultative and strategic partner to the CIO and to the business.  Through mutual collaboration, YJT Solution's managed services help CIOs position IT as an innovative solution provider rather than an overhead center. 

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Lane Smith
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SOURCE Spot Trading L.L.C.