Thomson Reuters launches high-speed global network

The new network, called Elektron, includes hosting centres in New York, Chicago, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo and Singapore, with more to come in Hong Kong, India and Brazil later in the year, all connected by a fibre optic ring.

As trading decisions are made increasingly by computers, the difficulty has been to execute ideas at high speed that require trades in multiple markets, said Jon Robson, Thomson Reuters’ president of enterprise. "This provides the infrastructure, technology and connections to different markets so that trades can happen quickly," he said.

Elektron will provide any Thomson Reuters client of any size equal access to high-frequency markets, Robson said. It will also serve as a neutral distribution platform for participants to exchange research, prices, business ideas or transactions. Thomson Reuters plans to migrate all of its content to Elektron over time as well as use its greater bandwidth to add deeper levels of market information, Robson said.

Larry Tabb, chief executive of research and consultancy firm TABB Group, said the Elektron system changes the whole paradigm of how people receive and deliver information. "It allows people to communicate more seamlessly, who would otherwise have to rely on slower channels or somebody remembering who gets what," he added. ■