NASDAQ Expands Colo Deal With Verizon

The NASDAQ OMX Group is expanding its colocation agreement with Verizon Business, the two companies said yesterday. The agreement will position NASDAQ OMX, which operates the NASDAQ stock exchange, to offer additional colocation space to trading firms engaged in high-frequency trading.

The expansion continues the arms race between financial data centers in northern New Jersey, where the leading stock exchanges are increasingly competing with commercial colocation and hosting specialists like Equinix, Savvis and Switch & Data. NYSE Euronext is also building a large data center in New Jersey to expand its colocation space for traders. 

The primary data center for NASDAQ OMX (NDAQ) is housed in a Verizon Business facility in New Jersey, while its backup facility is operated out of a Verizon Business site in northern Virginia. The agreements extend an existing relationship under which Verizon Business provides the exchange with professional services, unified communications and corporate network services.

But under the new agreement, Verizon Business will also assume some hands-on operations previously handled by NASDAQ staff.

"NASDAQ OMX is entrusting the day-to-day facility management of its core data-center infrastructure and services in the U.S. to a Verizon Business team, which will operate in-house," the companies said in a press release. "This will support the expansion of the exchange's colocation services in the U.S."

"Our relationship with NASDAQ OMX goes far beyond a traditional partner model," said Blair Crump, Senior Vice President of worldwide sales for Verizon Business. "We are effectively part of the company's operational and strategic infrastructure, working alongside the core team to help them deliver current and future business plans for the company's customers.

"For more than 20 years, we've been delivering innovative technology-based trading solutions for NASDAQ OMX, and we look forward to continuing to put technology to work for our global financial services customers worldwide," Crump added.