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High volume trading firms are about to get supercharged real-time packet capture management and analytic tools, thanks to the recent partnership between Solarflare and leading performance analytics firm Velocimetrics. Combining Solarflare’s Capture SolarSystem (CSS)—a breakthrough cost effective, distributed, flexible, and openly architected packet capture platform—with Velocimetrics’ financial analytics enables orders and trades to be tracked in real-time. This is exciting because for the first time, unexpected behavior—from thresholds being reached to a client SLA in danger of being breached— will be able to be detected instantly, allowing for live analysis and issue alerting.

 

CSS brings lower costs to packet capture technology, as well as the ability for users to build customized solutions. Beyond that, what CSS really offers is a breakthrough method for providing real time packet capture on a per server basis with a top of rack analytics capture capability. The packets are then streamed live to Velocimetrics, where they receive real-time network and business content analysis and alerting. Through this approach, players in capital markets can examine trading data from a more comprehensive standpoint, with CSS time stamping trades as well as sniffing for potentially bad packets.

 

Screen Shot 2015-10-29 at 4.53.48 PMThis is an innovative new approach to processing server data, especially in the financial realms. Instead of large and expensive packet and analysis boxes that manage and analyze server data haphazardly, CSS captures every packet that passes through every network server, allowing for analytics on a more local basis. Because Solarflare’s technology already accelerates, monitors, and secures server traffic so well, partnering with a top financial analytic firm like Velocimetrics is the next logical step. Velocimetrics can analyze the complex data it receives from CSS, thereby providing its customers with real time, in-depth analysis of the paths of every order and trade as it moves through complicated business processes. Traders benefit from this individualized statistical analysis at every stage, getting both a macro and micro view of what is happening all across their trading environment. Potential problems or discrepancies can immediately be reconciled through notifications of emerging performance, operation risk, customer experience or regulatory concerns.  Ultimately, this seamless flow of information will help traders maintain a competitive edge in today’s complex financial environments.

 

Packet capture is fundamental for network monitoring and analysis, but also as the first line of defense in network security workflows. So it’s no surprise that trading firms are eager for new levels of visibility into network performance. As Velocimetrics COO Paul Spencer said, “Solarflare’s turnkey, real-time, distributed capture technology is proving to be attractive for many financial companies looking for a more financially viable and customizable solution for large scale deployments. Capture SolarSystem is a comprehensive capture solution that can now be fully integrated with both TipOff and Velocimetrics, providing the ideal complement to our advanced network, middleware, market data and business-level analytics.”

 

This exciting partnership has the potential to increase efficiencies across the network for global trading firms and their customers. It also allows firms a way to satisfy emerging regulatory commitments and measure performance against client SLAs. Essentially, the one-two punch of Solarflare plus Velocimetrics boosts performance capabilities for global firms in immediate and powerful ways.