NYSE Euronext Chooses Red Hat Solutions for Its Mission-Critical Financial Trading Platform

World’s leading exchange group experiences flexibility, reliability and performance with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

MALAYSIA, 21 May 2008 – Red Hat, the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, has announced that NYSE Euronext utilizes Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Network to maintain the reliability, high performance and security of its mission-critical financial trading platform. With Red Hat solutions, NYSE Euronext has realized greater flexibility, freedom from vendor lock-in, cost savings and the ability to handle heavy workloads while producing rapid performance results.

NYSE Euronext (NYX) operates the world’s leading and most liquid exchange group, and seeks to provide the highest levels of market quality, customer choice and innovation. Its family of exchanges, located in six countries in the U.S. and Europe, include the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext, Liffe, Alternext and NYSE Arca Options. It offers a diverse array of financial products and services for issuers, investors and financial institutions in cash equities, options and derivatives, ETFs, bonds, market data and commercial technology solutions. NYSE Euronext's nearly 4,000 listed companies represent a combined US$27.3 / €17.3 trillion in total global market capitalization as of March 31, 2008, more than four times that of any other exchange group.

NYSE’s goal to cement its position as the world’s preeminent marketplace by diversifying its product base and developing a global platform for trading led to the merger with Archipelago in 2006 and Euronext in 2007. Facing the challenge of integrating its varied trading platforms to produce a simplified and optimized technology architecture, NYSE Euronext was seeking a platform that could deliver today and for years to come. A platform delivering value, reliability and flexibility became necessary to produce the fast-paced performance results demanded by the industry.

NYSE Euronext investigated two competing Linux distributions, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and compared the solutions based purely on technology and related support. When support was considered, it was quickly clear that the leading choice was Red Hat. NYSE Euronext decided to implement Red Hat Enterprise Linux to run its mission-critical electronic trading platform.

“Linux gave us the flexibility that we desired, and we felt that this was right for our environment. We decided to pursue it full speed ahead. We needed a good partner and found one in Red Hat. We were looking for a partner that was offering reliable software and one that would help and advise on architecture while providing the value of trusted support services. Red Hat satisfied our objectives,” said Steve Rubinow, Chief Information Officer at NYSE Euronext.

Today, key components of NYSE Euronext’s high-speed trading environments rely on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and are managed by Red Hat Network. Rubinow added, “The pace of electronic trading has picked up dramatically, and across the enterprise, the 6.5 hours that comprise the main part of our trading day includes the processing of billions of messages. With the combination of speed, cost, reliability and functionality pushed to the limit, we have to out perform the competition in each category.”

“Linux as an operating system has been the fastest growing with respect to these requirements, and we’re not limited by what’s in front of us. The quality of the Linux platform is greatly important to us and Red Hat Enterprise Linux has exceeded our expectations. Red Hat is almost like water, it’s pervasive within our architecture. Red Hat is extremely strategic and without it, most of our computers wouldn’t be running,” said Rubinow.

With continued growth, new development and ongoing conversion activities, NYSE Euronext will add several hundred more Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscriptions in the coming 18 months. Red Hat solutions are expected to play a pivotal role in NYSE Euronext’s next-generation global trading platform.