Deutsche Borse, the German stock exchange based in Frankfurt, has implemented 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches from supplier Juniper Networks on its Linux-based trading platforms.
The stock exchange said the new switches will be resilient and will help slash trading round trip messaging latency and process market data for co-locating traders on its Eurex derivatives and Xetra cash markets.
Xetra and Eurex both run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux-based servers and use the IBM WebSphere MQ Low Latency Messaging system. Eurex boasts of 99.997 percent availability.
The exchange's choice of switch is the Juniper QFX3500, which it said would help provide "exponential improvements in speed, scale and efficiency". It is attempting to cut the complexity of its networks, and to scale by improving server usage rates rather than simply adding boxes.
Christian Leis, a director at Deutsche Boerse, said electronic trading growth was "pushing networks to capacity" even though speed was "critical to success".
"Juniper's QFX3500 switches will immediately enable us to significantly shorten the network runtime of co-location clients on the Eurex derivatives and Xetra cash markets," he added.
Deutsche Borse, which is merging with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE Euronext), is understood to be focusing operations on a single Red Hat Linux-based trading platform for the combined group, which will target a 79 million (£64 million) saving from annual IT costs alongside robust, fast messaging.