Press releases 2009

• Entire data centre floor dedicated to hosting
• New value added services launched
• Trading volumes generated by hosting clients account for nearly a fifth of all order book trading

London Stock Exchange Group today announced details of a significant expansion to its Exchange Hosting service.  Due to high customer demand an entire floor of the Group’s central London data centre has been dedicated to clients wishing to host their servers there. The expanded facility will increase cabinet capacity fivefold, providing the fastest possible access to the Exchange’s trading and real-time information services.  In addition, a range of new services will be offered, including low latency market data from other exchange venues and MTFs.

The new services, available from today, include:

• Access to a wide range of data from key European, North American and Asian trading venues via QuantFEED, an ultra low latency data feed from QuantHouse
• Low latency access to other Group markets from within the Exchange Hosting facility, including London Stock Exchange and Borsa Italiana cash equity markets
• Planned and unplanned “remote hands” support services
• Improved performance and precision and a time synchronisation facility for the accurate measurement of timing, to microsecond level

David Lester, Chief Information Officer, London Stock Exchange Group, said:

“The introduction of QuantHouse’s high-speed data feed, and the raft of other value added services we have announced today, underlines our commitment to providing our most latency sensitive clients with the tools they need to access London’s deep pool of liquidity as fast and efficiently as possible.  Take-up of our hosting services has been strong among both new and existing clients, reflecting the demand for Exchange Hosting from algorithmic traders. Our Exchange Hosting clients are now generating nearly a fifth of the total volume traded on the order book on a daily basis, increasing liquidity and encouraging market efficiency.”  

Pierre-François Filet, CEO & co-Founder of QuantHouse, commented:

“We are delighted to work with the London Stock Exchange, to give their trading members additional services to enhance their trading performance. I have no doubt that the London Stock Exchange’s hosting centre will become the data centre of choice for all latency sensitive clients trading in Europe, and that it will become the preferred hosting centre for US and Asian trading members too because of its central London location.”

Exchange Hosting, which was introduced with an initial release of cabinets in September 2008, provides high frequency algorithmic trading firms with sub-millisecond access to any of the London Stock Exchange Group’s markets, allowing firms to physically locate their servers as close as possible to the Exchange’s matching engines.  The latest phase of the service brings online an entire floor of the Exchange’s data centre dedicated to hosting, offering high standards in terms of security, access,

cooling and power, with 5kw of power available to each cabinet. Low latency access is also being enabled for a range of markets, including London and Italian cash equity markets.

Demand for hosting services has been driven by a diverse and global client base, with interest from UK and globally based clients.  The Exchange continues to investigate ways to enhance its hosting facilities further, and is looking to release additional cabinet capacity to meet the continued customer demand for hosting next to the Exchange’s matching engines.

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For further information, please contact:

Alastair Fairbrother                           Press Office +44 (0)20 7797 122    newsroom@londonstockexchange.com

Notes to editors

About London Stock Exchange Group:

London Stock Exchange Group is Europe's leading diversified exchange business, incorporating Borsa Italiana and London Stock Exchange. With over 500 member firms and more than 3,000 companies quoted across its markets, the Group operates the largest and most liquid equity marketplace in Europe.

The Group offers trading in a wide range of instruments, holding the number one position in trading exchange traded products (ETFs and ETCs) and through its interest in MTS, is the leading platform for the trading of fixed income products. Through MOT it offers a comprehensive range of European corporate and government bond trading services. Its Italian Derivatives Exchange Market (IDEM) sees over €2.5 billion worth of trading every day, and through EDX London the Group provides a facility for the trading of Scandinavian and Russian equity derivatives.

London Stock Exchange Group also offers post-trade services such as netting, clearing and settlement on an efficient and competitive basis. These include services from Monte Titoli, the Central Securities Depository for all Italian financial instruments, and Cassa di Compensazione & Garanzia (CC&G), which in July 2009 was granted Recognised Overseas Clearing House (ROCH) status by the FSA to operate in the UK.

London Stock Exchange itself is the world's most international exchange with over 600 overseas companies from more than 70 countries quoted on its markets. These figures include international companies on AIM, the London Stock Exchange's growth market, which has grown to become the world's most successful market for small and medium sized enterprises with 1,385 companies at the end of July 2009.