By leveraging the advantages of shortwave technology, researchers at New Line Networks, a joint venture of two companies who build trading networks for some of the world’s most important financial markets, reportedly hope to gain a microsecond advantage in trading technologies. This tiny difference could provide critical advantages to key players in volatile high-frequency financial markets.
According to a recent report by Bloomberg News, New Line is currently experimenting with an antenna array equipped with shortwave transmitters and receivers located in a field about 50 miles west of Chicago. The installation connects a data center that feeds information from market centers in New York, London and Frankfurt to financial market futures exchanges run by the CME Group.
First employed in the 1800s by Thomas Edison, shortwave transmissions were essential to broadcasters until the advent of earth-orbiting communications satellites in the 1980s. Although shortwave transmissions can be affected by weather or solar conditions, transmissions of sufficient strength, along with advanced software support, can ameliorate these challenges.
View the complete text of the Bloomberg report on New Line’s shortwave experiment.
