Metamako continues its leadership in ultra-low latency devices for exchanges and the trading community with the launch of MetaMux. MetaMux combines the features of an FPGA with Metamako’s 4 nanosecond MetaConnect switching technology to provide the ultimate deterministic speed for a range of critical trading and risk management applications. Orders sent by algorithmic traders, execution services and exchanges will reach their destinations in record time and will be delivered with a consistent latency, at a lower cost. Used for market access and network monitoring, MetaMux is considerably faster than conventional switches: a typical order entry through MetaMux takes only about 100 nanoseconds, more than twice as fast as traditional offerings.
Dr. Dave Snowdon, co-CTO and founder of Metamako explains: “We’ve focused on building really clever, extremely fast devices for financial networks in the last year and MetaMux is the first in a series of next-generation products. Our goal is to bring to the market tools which have the lowest possible deterministic latency. Our new product is truly groundbreaking and we will continue to develop devices that are functionally rich, very low latency and deterministic. The built-in FPGA enables MetaMux to become smarter as we add new features and functionality.”
MetaMux is based on the powerful MetaConnect platform, incorporating all the features found in MetaConnect 16-port and MetaConnect 48-port versions (launched in December 2013 and May 2014 respectively). Because the device has a built-in FPGA, upgrades can be rolled-out and new functionality added totally transparently to the end user.
Snowdon adds: "The integration of higher layer switching is the next step in layer-1 switch technology – MetaMux delivers new performance and functionality, the most important of which is aggregation. Up to 32 users can send orders to an exchange on a single link, or up to 32 streams can be tapped and aggregated, all in the same device and with a tapping latency of just 4 nanoseconds. Until now our customers have had to combine optical taps, aggregation switches and media converters, but MetaMux is a sophisticated hybrid layer 1/2/3 switch, which combines the functionality of two switches in one – the best of both worlds!”
Traditional devices use optical taps for signal splitting which has major cost and quality issues. The downside of this approach is that signal quality degrades, and it’s an expensive and complex solution, both because lasers are expensive and because optical taps require significant amounts of rack space. Metamako has built aggregation and network tapping into the same device, reducing costs, wiring complexity and rack space, while providing improved signal quality, determinism and very low latency.
Thanks to the built-in MetaConnect technology, MetaMux also offers timestamping, media conversion, twin-ax copper compatibility, dynamic patching, a powerful x86-based management platform and the user-friendly MOS operating software.
