ACADEMIA

Sun Enables NSX to Process More than 15,000 Orders per Second and 1,500 Executions per Second: Continuing its momentum in the financial services industry, Sun Microsystems, the creator of the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS), has announced the completion of a technology refresh for the National Stock Exchange (NSX), which recently launched a new state-of-the-art technology platform - NSX BLADE and NASD/NSX Trade Reporting Facility. NSX, the nation's first all-electronic stock exchange, expects the enhancements will be appealing to traders trying to secure the best price, given time and order size, known in the capital markets sector as "best execution." The Sun Customer Ready Systems (CRS) program build-out, based on Sun Fire servers powered by UltraSPARC and AMD Opteron processors, as well as the Sun StorageTek Compliance Archiving System, will help NSX handle increased trading volumes as well as to better enable data archival needs to comply with recent SEC regulations. In addition, Sun's Solaris 10 OS -- used on a combination of Sun SPARC and x64 platforms - will help ensure security, integrity, and performance of the overall platform. The move will help NSX maintain its position as the most cost-efficient trading venue in the country for NASDAQ, NYSE and Amex-listed stocks, ultimately allowing it to compete more effectively with other exchanges domestically and globally. The implementation was completed at the end of July 2006 and the system is now fully operational. The overhaul replaced older HP systems with leading-edge hardware and software from Sun. "The National Stock Exchange has made a significant investment in a state-of-the-art infrastructure, with a lower cost model than any of our competitors," said Joseph Rizzello, CEO of NSX. "This will allow us to aggressively compete with other exchanges while giving traders greater options for best execution. I don't think there's any technology provider out there that could have delivered us onto this path as Sun has." NSX's new platform significantly improves security for the financial data stored by providing non-erasable, non-rewritable disk areas that eliminate intentional or accidental destruction or alteration of data stored until its assigned retention date has been met. The Sun StorageTek Compliance Archiving system has been evaluated as meeting the stringent requirements for data storage as defined by SEC rule 240.17a-4. The Sun StorageTek Compliance Archiving system is the combination of the Sun StorageTek Network Attached Storage (NAS) Appliance and StorageTek Compliance Archiving software. "In an era of significant market infrastructure change, least cost best execution is supported only by advanced technology," said Larry Scott, vice president of financial services for Sun Microsystems. "The NSX has taken the necessary steps to position itself as a highly efficient and low cost execution venue. The new open technology platform powered by Sun will help provide the NSX with competitive advantages for its members in the years to come." In this deployment, Sun led a team of world-class solution providers, including Randomwalk (recently acquired by Accenture), Cisco Systems, Hitachi and Veritas. The Sun CRS team played a critical role in the pre-sale process by configuring the systems according to customer specs, providing expertise in rack set up and power requirements, and delivering pre-built systems that were "plug and play," immediately ready for implementation. The implementation was completed on-time and on-budget, in line with the NSX's expectations. Under the auspices of the agreement, Sun will also provide support and training services to the NSX.