One of Nasdaq’s six options exchanges, Nasdaq GEMX, has successfully moved its basic trading system to a clou environment delivered by Amazon Web Services (AWS). With the usage of AWS Outposts, the new cloud-enabled market infrastructure would improve latency by up to 10 percent while allowing for more fluid capacity adjustments in response to shifting market circumstances.
After Nasdaq MRX in 2022 and the Nasdaq Bond Exchange (NBE) earlier in 2023, Nasdaq GEMX is the third Nasdaq market to successfully migrate to AWS. A complicated network of systems, procedures, and native protocols that are used by many tiers of the whole capital markets ecosystem must be migrated in order to move markets to the cloud. To provide a smooth experience for market participants, Nasdaq effectively managed vast amounts of communication traffic while overseeing a variety of real-time market circumstances.
As it develops a more robust, scalable, and easily accessible financial ecosystem and provides cloud-enabled infrastructure, Nasdaq aims to be at the forefront of market modernization. Nasdaq and AWS developed an edge computing system using AWS Outposts, a fully managed solution, to meet the strict performance, resilience, and regulatory requirements for the capital markets. This system would give market participants and operators the extra agility to quickly adapt operational systems and strategies as well as innovation capabilities to keep up with changing industry dynamics.
Equinix Colocation Facility in New Jersey
In addition, Nasdaq is making investments in Equinix’s NY11 International Business Exchange (IBX), Carteret, New Jersey, which serves as the main data center and hub for Nasdaq’s US markets, including its cloud infrastructure. In response to the increasing demand from participants who want to be close to the Nasdaq trading systems, Nasdaq is extending the current colocation facility. The upgraded and enlarged facility would provide customers access to a greater variety of services and capabilities while also offering the ideal setting for the next generation of computing workloads.
Co-President of Nasdaq Tal Cohen said, “At Nasdaq, we adopt and migrate advanced technologies with a client-centric approach to minimize risk and ensure clients can capitalize on the long-term benefits our modernization efforts deliver. As a preeminent market operator and worldwide supplier of essential market infrastructure, we are dedicated to carrying on with our mission to modernize the world’s financial ecosystem and unleash the potential of cloud computing.”
According to Scott Mullins, General Director of AWS’s Worldwide Financial Services, “Together, our teams are continuing to help Nasdaq redefine the future of capital markets through close collaboration and use AWS capabilities to deliver measurable benefits for our mutual clients. We are eager to collaborate with Nasdaq in order to help it realize its long-term objectives of running a scalable and adaptable environment without sacrificing the functionality of vital, ultra-low latency systems.”
Building the next generation of cloud infrastructure for its customers has been a methodical endeavor for Nasdaq, which has included creating new cloud-native platforms and transferring current Financial Technology solutions. As of November 2023, 106 financial institutions – including banks, broker-dealers, and financial market infrastructures (FMIs) – had either implemented or moved Nasdaq’s cloud-based solutions, which include clearing, marketplace services, risk management, surveillance, and marketplace capabilities.
Nasdaq says it adopts a client-centric strategy when enrolling financial institutions, providing a customized experience that eventually links customers to the vital cloud infrastructure. By using the cloud’s capacity, Nasdaq would enable its customers to increase resilience and business agility while scaling their solutions flexibly and reliably to meet shifting market needs.
