Thomson Reuters launches Elektron for real-time data access

Thomson Reuters Corp launched a global, high-speed network on Tuesday for financial firms to access real-time data as well as share information with each other directly. The company's new network, called Elektron, includes hosting centers 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.

The new service allows traders, hedge funds and brokers to access market data – such as from exchanges – in one location and to use the network to disseminate and share information new products to potential customers. Thomson Reuters is operating the system in partnership with data centre company Savvis Inc.

The service is an attempt by the financial information company to create a data network ''community'' to replace the more costly and cumbersome individual technology links that financial firms have hitherto had to have with multiple exchanges, trading platforms and vendors of trading services. As trading decision are made increasingly by computers, the difficulty has been to execute ideas at high speed that require trades in multiple markets, said Jon Robson, president of Enterprise division of Thomson Reuters.

"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. 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.

The move is a sign that companies selling market-moving data and technology that allows traders to connect to trading venues believe there is money to be made in offering bundled services to market participants rather than having them buy them separately from different types of provider. It reflects recognition that traders of equities, derivatives, bonds, foreign exchange and other asset classes have proliferated across the globe want to tap into a ''one-stop shop'' network that provides this at a fraction of the cost.