Inside A Direct Edge Data Center

The fast-growing electronic exchange Direct Edge is one of the anchor tenants in the Telx Financial Business Exchange facility in Clifton, N.J., about 10 miles from New York City. From there its servers can connect to key facilities in Manhattan and Weehawken, and have access to more than 400 networks in the New York metro region.

Last year Direct Edge consolidated its data centers in Clifton and at the Equinix NY4 data center in Secaucus. Chief technology officer Steve Bonanno said the company considered building its own data center to house the operation of Direct Edge and its ISE (International Securities Exchange), but eventually opted for colocation. "We felt this got us to the providers we need," said Bonanno. "We considered the time-to-market get those connections, the cost of owning all those connections, and the cost of power versus the cost of going to Telx and saying 'here are my requirements.'

"We are the third-largest US equities exchange," he added. "That’s our focus. Technology is the enabler of the business model. It’s not the business model. Telx specializes in facilities management and puts us a cross-connect away from our partners."

In this video, Telx Director of Sales Engineering Kevin Strasheim provides an overview of the features of the Direct Edge data center, as well as space that will provide expansion for Telx and its customers. This video runs about 6 minutes.

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