Leading Provider of Application Services to the Global Derivatives Community Joins Top Financial Trading Industry Companies Operating at Equinix Chicago Hub
Foster City, CA and Chicago, IL - November 3, 2004 - Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the leading provider of network-neutral data centers and Internet exchange services, and FFastFill plc, the leading provider of application services to the global derivatives community, today announced that FFastFill will move the company's U.S. IT operations to Equinix's Chicago Internet Business Exchange™ (IBX®) center. The move will enable FFastFill to leverage the security benefits of the center while operating within the same location as many of the company's strategic partners.
Headquartered in London, FFastFill's services for the global derivatives market utilize the latest developments in technology to automate trade flow processes across a firm's front, middle and back offices. With some of the largest names in the financial services industry as customers, FFastFill enables trading companies to eliminate the cost of investing in and maintaining their own technology infrastructure and staff. As the company delivers its services electronically, it requires a solid IT infrastructure that provides the highest levels of security, performance, availability and reliability.
FFastFill announced last month that it was launching its new managed application services offering in the United States, in part based on a resilient new infrastructure in Chicago. The company's new state-of-the-art data center operations will begin service at Equinix's IBX center on Nov. 16. By moving the company's infrastructure from a small data center in the Chicago area, FFastFill will have the potential to interconnect directly with the large aggregation of networks and financial trading and clearing companies already operating within Equinix's Chicago hub. This local connection between FFastFill's network and the networks of strategic partners will enable FFastFill to reduce the costs of reaching these partners in disparate locations and over great distances.
Equinix's Chicago hub, which is recognized as a leading connectivity point for the financial trading industry, provides a redundant and secure infrastructure for FFastFill to base its IT operations. Features include interlocking "mantrap" doors, multiple layers of biometric hand-geometry scanners controlling access, as well as 24-hour security officers and hundreds of surveillance cameras. The power operations of the center include a high-performance back-up system that guarantees uninterrupted power even in the event of utility power disruption. Equinix's HVAC systems provide industry-leading environmental control, including the ability to accommodate the latest in high power density equipment, such as blade servers.
"Equinix's Chicago hub is well known as the 'go-to' location for the IT operations of financial trading and clearing companies," said Mark Bohannon, Senior Vice President of FFastFill Inc., the company's U.S. operation. "It provides the potential for direct interconnectivity with an aggregation of our strategic partners, and, most importantly gives us the resilient and highly secure facility that we need to support our Service Level Agreement backed services."
"As banks and financial trading companies are increasingly migrating from floor trading operations to electronic trading platforms, they require an infrastructure that enables them to conveniently, reliably and cost-effectively interconnect with their strategic partners," said Margie Backaus, chief business officer of Equinix. "Equinix's Chicago hub and the Equinix Financial eXchange service have become critical elements for these companies to link to each other, as well as with the major network service providers that provide their connections to the Internet and other networks."
About Equinix
Equinix is the leading global provider of network-neutral data centers and Internet exchange services for enterprises, content companies, systems integrators and network services providers. Through the company's 14 Internet Business Exchange™ (IBX®) centers in five countries, customers can directly interconnect with every major global network and ISP for their critical peering, transit and traffic exchange requirements. These interconnection points facilitate the highest performance and growth of the Internet by serving as neutral and open marketplaces for Internet infrastructure services, allowing customers to expand their businesses while reducing costs.
About FFastFill
Based in London, FFastFill is the leading provider of application services to the global derivatives community. FFastFill services and solutions utilize the latest developments in technology to automate trade flow processes across a firm's front, middle and back offices. FFastFill solutions encompass electronic order routing, clearing, risk management and back office reporting as part of an integrated, yet modular system architecture. FFastFill application services provide institutions with cost savings in their administrative and IT departments and significantly reduce or eliminate the investment costs associated with maintaining their own technology infrastructure. All of FFastFill's services are delivered against a contracted Service Level Agreement (SLA), which can be tailored to an institution's business requirements. This quality of delivered service has been enabled through the deployment of a uniquely engineered and totally managed software and computing and telecommunications infrastructure.
Equinix Contact:
David FonkalsrudK/F Communications, Inc.(415) 255-6506
dave@kfcomm.comFFastFill Contact:
Ellen G. ResnickCrystal Clear Communications(773) 929-9292; (312) 399-9295 (cell)
eresnick@crystalclearPR.com
Ffastfill Partners With Equinix To Deliver Derivatives Trading Applications
