Coping with continual growth in market data volumes and keeping pace with the speed to today’s markets are among the driving forces propelling exchanges to continually invest in technology that will deliver the flexibility, scalability, security, performance and availability that exchanges demand. To meet these needs some of the world’s largest exchanges are beginning to migrate away from their mainframe environments and move onto Microsoft platforms. From South America, to Europe, to the US, exchanges such as Bovespa, The Pacific Exchange, now part of NYSE Arca, the London Stock Exchange and EuroNext have selected the Microsoft platform for mission-critical processes.

Bovespa, (Bolsa de Valores do Estado de Sao Paulo, or the State of Sao Paolo Stock Exchange) the largest stock exchange in Latin America, last year shuttered its mainframe environment to run entirely on a platform developed by Microsoft, HP and Intel.

Bovespa announced it has seen higher performance stability and fewer problems with the new environment. It has also seen cost reductions, and since the new platform is standards-based, Bovespa can adapt to increased transaction volume without huge investments. The process of migrating applications from the mainframe to the HP, Intel, Microsoft platform involved Microsoft Windows Server 2000 and 2003 operating systems and the Microsoft SQL Server 2000 database. Recently, it also began migrating to Microsoft SQL Server 2005. Major business applications were designed on Visual Basic 6.0, but Bovespa also uses .NET technology to build new products and services.

The London Stock Exchange launched its Microsoft platform in September 2005 after previously disseminating data through the London Market Information Link (IMIL), based on an HP NonStop (Tandem) environment and written in COBOL Language. However, upgrading the Tandem environment was not cost-effective and prompted the exchange to seek an equally reliable replacement platform.

As part of its Technology Road Map (TRM), the London Stock Exchange needed an environment capable of running its Infolect project, which processes an average of 15 million real-time messages a day distributed to more than 107,000 trading screens in more than 100 countries. After considering a variety of options, the London Stock Exchange chose the Microsoft .NET Framework because of its developer efficiency, performance, and scalability. The adoption of the new platform allows the exchange to continue its leadership, while simultaneously moving into the next generation of trading systems.

The former Pacific Exchange migrated its clearing and billing application from an outsourced mainframe to the Microsoft Windows platform with the support of Micro Focus, a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner. The Pacific Exchange is now a part of NYSE Arca after its acquisition by Archipelago and subsequent acquisition by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

The year-long project moved the exchange’s clearing platform from the mainframe to HP computers running Microsoft Windows Server 2003. Pacific Exchange officials credited the Windows platform for eliminating the significant costs associated with mainframe maintenance while increasing internal control over core applications. On four-processor HP computers, the real-time clearing application runs three times faster than it did on the mainframe and the overnight batch processing of the reports and daily billing routines are 15 times faster. Plus, they can expand capacity by adding processors or servers at a modest incremental cost.

The NYSE also acquired Euronext, whose affiliate Euronext.liffe, the world’s second largest derivatives exchange, faced rising volumes as a result of increased market volatility. Already running Microsoft SQL Server 2000, the exchange wanted to ensure it could handle an expected quadrupling of its database transactions after rolling out its LIFFE CONNECT trading platform across Europe.

LIFFE CONNECT, the world’s most sophisticated electronics derivatives trading platform and widely accessible trading platform, averages 12,000 database transactions per second and is growing rapidly.

To determine the scalability of their existing database, Euronext.liffe embarked on an SQL Server Usability Review (SUR) with Microsoft experts in Redmond, WA. Various testing scenarios were utilized, which proved their existing SQL Server would meet the company’s five-year projection for growth with minor modifications, handling up to 100,000 database transactions per second. Technical architects at Euronext.Liffe Market Solutions applauded the scalability of their existing server and lauded the benefits of the scenario testing in reassuring the company that its existing equipment could evolve with changing business needs.

The performance, compatibility, scalability, and value of the Microsoft platform clearly impacts the day-to-day operations of exchanges and brokerage firms throughout the world, making mainframe migration a practical and profitable business solution.

For more information please visit –

www.microsoft.com/mainframe

www.mainframemigration.org