at Financial Technnology Year
Please contact them if you have any questions.
Features in Data Center Infrastructure
for IT and Infrastructure
Physical hardware including servers, storage systems, and power management equipment supporting brokerage operations with high availability and disaster recovery capabilities.
We ask vendors to mark their product against our feature list. It is not available for all products and in some cases we have derived data from publicly available sources. The list of features follows. Vendors can add a further 10 key features of their own.
Availability & Disaster Recovery
Capabilities that guarantee continuous service and rapid recovery from outages or disasters.
- Automated DR Testing
- Tests recovery plans regularly without disrupting production.
- Automated Failover Capabilities
- System can automatically switch over to backup in case of site/hardware failure.
- Backup Frequency
- Interval at which backups are created.
- Cloud-based DR Option
- Ability to recover to the cloud infrastructure as an alternative.
- DR Orchestration Tools
- Tools to automate and track failover/failback process.
- Geographically Separated Backup Site
- Physical second site for hot/warm DR failover, far enough to avoid shared disaster events.
- Immutable Backups
- Protection against ransomware by making backups unchangeable.
- Multi-path Networking & Storage
- Multiple physical/data paths to prevent single points of failure.
- Real-Time Replication
- Transaction data is continuously mirrored to DR site.
- Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
- Maximum tolerable period in which data might be lost.
- Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
- Target time to restore full operations after disruption.
Compliance & Regulatory Controls
Infrastructure that satisfies legal, financial, and operational standards for brokerage operations.
- Access Logging
- Audit trails of who accessed what resources and when.
- Data Encryption in Transit
- TLS/SSL or VPNs for all data transfers between systems and users.
- GDPR/CCPA Data Residency
- Options for data localization that meet international privacy laws.
- Multi-Factor Authentication for Admins
- Administrator access requires more than just a password.
- Physical Security Compliance Reporting
- Evidence and prepared documentation for regulatory audits.
- Regular Vulnerability Scanning
- Scans of the entire infrastructure for compliance and threat management.
- Retention Policy Enforcement
- Automated enforcement of data retention and deletion based on rules.
- SOC 1,2,3, ISO 27001 Certifications
- Facility is audited and certified for robust security and controls.
- Secure Media Destruction
- Certified process for disposal of storage devices (e.g., shredding, degaussing).
- Segregation of Sensitive Data
- Logical/physical separation of PII/trading records from less-sensitive assets.
Environmental Controls & Physical Security
Technologies for climate control, fire detection, and protection of physical assets in the data center.
- 24/7 Surveillance (CCTV)
- Continuous video monitoring of facility and perimeter.
- Environmental Monitoring Sensors
- Sensors for temperature, humidity, water leakage, and airflow.
- Fire Suppression Systems
- Automated, data-safe fire suppression (e.g., gas or mist-based, not water sprinklers).
- Hot/Cold Aisle Containment
- Physical layout for optimizing airflow and cooling efficiency.
- Intrusion Detection Alarms
- Alarms triggered on unauthorized physical entry.
- Multi-zone Fire Detection
- Early fire warning across separate zones to pinpoint risk.
- Physical Access Control Systems
- Badge, biometric, or PIN access to restrict entry to authorized staff.
- Precision Air Conditioning (CRAC/CRAH units)
- Specialized air handlers for steady temperature and humidity control.
- Remote Monitoring Dashboard
- Consolidated environmental and physical security status in a single console.
- Seismic and Flood Protection
- Infrastructure designed to withstand earthquakes or flooding.
- Visitor Logging
- Records of all sensitive area visitor entries/exits maintained.
Integration & Interoperability
Ensures the infrastructure plays well with other brokerage technology stacks, exchanges, and services.
- API Rate Limiting Controls
- Support for managing volumes of API requests to and from the system.
- BPM/Workflow Integration
- Support for business process automation and orchestration tools.
- Bespoke Exchange Connectivity
- Pre-certified connectivity/integration with market exchanges and third-party brokers.
- Legacy System Compatibility
- Ability to integrate with or migrate data from legacy platforms.
- Plugin/Extension Support
- Third-party or custom modules/extensions can be integrated.
- Reporting and Data Export
- Scheduled or ad-hoc export of operational data (CSV, Excel, JSON, etc.).
- Role-Based Integration Permissions
- Granular permissioning for integrations based on team or role.
- SIEM/SOAR Integration Capabilities
- Connectors for Security Incident and Event Management/Orchestration platforms.
- Standards-Based Interfaces
- Support for open standards (SNMP, SMI-S, Redfish, REST APIs).
- Support for Financial Messaging Protocols
- E.g., FIX, SWIFT, Market Data feeds.
Monitoring & Management Tools
Software systems for holistic visibility, automated management, and performance optimization of data center operations.
- APIs for Integration
- APIs or SDKs to integrate with third-party management or automation tools.
- Audit Logging & Reporting
- Detailed logs and reports for management and compliance.
- Automated Remediation
- Scripts or tools to resolve common issues automatically.
- Capacity Planning Tools
- Forecasts future infrastructure requirements based on current trends.
- Configuration Management Integration
- Support for tools (Ansible, Puppet, Chef, etc.) for configuration drift detection.
- Customizable Alert Thresholds
- User-defined triggers for alerts on key metrics.
- Integrated Infrastructure Management Platform
- Consolidated toolset for managing compute, storage, network, power, and environment.
- Patch Management
- Centralized and automated updates for firmware/OS.
- Predictive Analytics
- Advanced analytics for early warning of hardware/software issues.
- Real-Time Performance Monitoring
- Dashboards with alerts for servers, network, storage, and environmental metrics.
Network Infrastructure
Network hardware (switches, routers, firewalls) and features to ensure low latency, security, and high availability.
- 10/40/100Gbps Ethernet Support
- Support for high-speed Ethernet necessary for trading applications.
- Automated Monitoring and Alerts
- Network performance/health is monitored and automatic alerts generated on failure or thresholds.
- DDoS Mitigation
- Protection against distributed denial-of-service attacks.
- Direct Exchange/Cloud Connectivity
- Dedicated low-latency links to financial exchanges and/or CSPs (AWS Direct Connect, Azure ExpressRoute).
- Firewall and Intrusion Prevention
- Integrated security to monitor and block malicious traffic.
- Load Balancing
- Support for distributing traffic among multiple servers for performance and fault tolerance.
- Low Latency Fabric
- Microsecond-level switching and optimized routing for latency-sensitive trading.
- Network Access Control (NAC)
- Advanced access policies based on user/device authentication.
- Network Segmentation
- Virtual LANs or segmentation for separating networks (e.g., DMZ, storage, back-office).
- Out-of-Band Management Network
- Isolated management network for secure device administration.
- Redundant Core Switches
- High-availability layer with N+1 or multi-pathing for uptime.
- Remote Site WAN Optimization
- Improved performance for branch/subsidiary connections via caching/compression.
Power Management
Infrastructure for stable and redundant power delivery, monitoring, and resilience against failure.
- Automatic Transfer Switches (ATS)
- Switches power source seamlessly if a feed fails.
- Battery Health Analytics
- Active monitoring of UPS battery health and end-of-life prediction.
- Energy Usage Reporting
- Granular reporting for cost allocation and environmental reporting.
- Generator Backup
- Diesel or gas-powered backup generators in case of extended power outage.
- Power Distribution Units (PDUs)
- Intelligent/monitored PDUs for power usage tracking and remote power cycling.
- Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) Monitoring
- Measurement and optimization of data center energy efficiency.
- Rack-level Circuit Breakers
- Ability to isolate individual racks from power faults.
- Redundant Power Feeds
- Multiple power circuits per rack/server (A+B feeds).
- Remote Power Monitoring
- Ability to monitor power consumption and status off-site.
- Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
- Battery backup for short-term outages.
- Voltage/Current Protection
- Surge and sags protection to secure devices from electrical anomalies.
Scalability & Flexibility
Ability to adapt quickly to changing brokerage workloads and regulatory environments.
- Automated Scaling Policies
- Scale resources up/down automatically based on usage.
- Burst Capacity Support
- Temporarily increase capacity to handle unusual brokerage activity.
- Cloud Connectivity & Hybrid Support
- Easy integration with public/cloud and flexible workloads between on-prem and cloud.
- Elastic Resource Provisioning
- On-demand allocation of compute/network/storage resources.
- Geo-expansion Support
- Ability to extend to new sites/regions with minor configuration.
- Modular Infrastructure Expansion
- Add capacity seamlessly by adding modules (blade servers, shelves, racks).
- Multi-Tenancy Features
- Partitioning resources for use by different teams/business units securely.
- Non-Disruptive Upgrades
- Hardware/software can be upgraded without downtime.
- Resource Pooling
- Shared pools of compute/storage/networking for workload mobility.
- Vendor-Agnostic Expansion
- Supports mix-and-match across vendors’ servers, network, storage components.
Server and Compute Resources
Covers the physical servers, virtualization capabilities, compute density, and redundancy required for critical brokerage workloads.
- Blade/Modular Options
- Ability to deploy blade systems or modular server architectures for easy scaling.
- Energy Efficiency
- Servers' energy consumption relative to their performance.
- Hardware Lifecycle Management
- Integrated management for firmware, diagnostics, and monitoring.
- Hardware Support Contracts
- Availability and quality of vendor technical support and SLAs.
- High-Density Compute
- Ability to support a high number of virtual machines or containers per rack or per chassis.
- Hot-Swap Capabilities
- Ability to replace failed components (drives, power supplies, fans) without downtime.
- Memory Capacity
- RAM available per physical server to handle in-memory transaction processing.
- Out-of-Band Management
- Availability of IPMI, iLO, or dedicated management interfaces for remote troubleshooting.
- Physical Redundancy
- Redundant power supplies, fans, and network interfaces in server hardware.
- Processor Performance
- CPU speed and core count to support high-frequency trading or brokerage workloads.
- Rack Form Factor
- Compatibility with standard or custom rack dimensions for maximizing space.
- Virtualization Support
- Support for leading hypervisors and container platforms (e.g., VMware, Hyper-V, KVM, Docker).
Storage Systems
Storage platforms and features that ensure performance, reliability, and scalability for trading/order data and regulatory compliance.
- Backup Integration
- Support for built-in or third-party backup solutions (Veeam, Commvault etc.).
- Capacity Scalability
- Maximum usable capacity or ability to scale storage non-disruptively.
- Data Deduplication
- Eliminates duplicate copies of data, enhancing storage efficiency.
- Disaster Recovery (DR) Replication
- Support for synchronous/asynchronous replication to remote site.
- Encryption at Rest
- Data encryption on physical storage devices.
- Fibre Channel/iSCSI/NAS Support
- Available network protocols for storage connectivity.
- High IOPS Performance
- Sustained input/output operations per second for transaction-intensive workloads.
- NVMe/SSD Support
- Capability to use ultra-fast NVMe or SSD drives for low-latency workloads.
- Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)
- Support for RAID levels for data redundancy and speed.
- Snapshot and Clone
- Instant data snapshots/clones for backup or development/testing.
- Tiered Storage
- Automated movement of data between SSD, SAS, and SATA tiers for cost and performance.
- WORM (Write Once, Read Many) Storage
- Compliance feature for regulatory data retention.
Support & Serviceability
Assurance of ongoing vendor support, rapid hardware replacements, and ease of onsite/offsite management.
- 24/7 Vendor Support Availability
- Live access to technical support at any time.
- Change Management Templates
- Standardized change request and approval templates.
- Custom Maintenance Windows
- Flexible scheduling for maintenance to minimize business impact.
- Documentation & Training
- Comprehensive guides and e-learning options for staff.
- Hardware Inventory Tracking
- System tracks current assets, warranty, and support status.
- Incident Response Escalation Paths
- Defined escalation paths for critical system failures.
- Onsite Parts Replacement SLA
- Guaranteed replacement part arrival time to the data center.
- Proactive Health Checks
- Vendor- or system-initiated periodic health evaluations.
- Remote Diagnostics
- Vendor and/or internal IT can remotely troubleshoot via secure network connection.
- Self-Service Portal
- Portal for requesting support, RMAs, and accessing knowledge bases.