Are You Converting to FTTD?

Hi Frank,

Very interesting. Would you have any real-life examples of FTTD being used for trading floors please? I am thinking large trading floors with hundreds of positions (since i have a practical case on my hands...).

Any inputs much appreciated,

Fabio fabfx@bloomberg.net

Hello Fabio. Good to hear from you.

We've designed and managed the implementation of many trading floor installations that have used FTTD, starting as early as the mid 1980s. During those earlier days fiber was used not only for LAN-type protocols (actually, very little was used for supporting IEEE-type LANs back then), but as substitutes for myriad other media, including many of the market data services of the era and RGB/S coaxial bundles for desktop video displays connecting to video switches in closets on other floors. In other cases we did support Ethernet employing passive optica networks (PONs) that used optical power splitters in support of an OTC desk.

I noticed your email address's domain name. My firm was the first to convert to fiber the thick black coaxial cable that was used by Bloomberg Terminals when we moved Solomon Bros. (I guess I can use their name now ;) into 7 WTC (RIP) back in 1990-91. At the present time we've been busy with several novel approaches to FTTD that we believe will gain a great deal of favor in the financial services space, including, if not especially, trading rooms.

What specifically are you contemplating doing? I'm happy to offer opinions here or via email. Thanks for the reply.

Frank Coluccio, Principal - Cirrant Partners Inc. / New York City

frank@fttx.org

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Frank - thanks for the answer. I am advising a big bank, COO-type level/role, not on the technical side (am a trader essentially, hence the Bloomberg address) although i do have a strong technical background, therefore don't mind poking my nose in that space when "necessary". They have a state-of-the-art data center, and are now about to design & build a new trading floor for a couple hundred trader positions, to replace the old one from a decade+ ago. Virtualization solution not firmed up yet.

I was wondering whether FTTD cldn't be an additional game-changing solution in terms of allowing more flexibility for floor design and further position MACs (move, add, change) that wld be much more frequent on trading floors if they weren't such a costly headache as current? As well as being a lower-cost, lower-latency, space-saving, greener etc type solution. Key drivers overall are improved resilience, latency, cost.

Any thoughts and more recent experiences / examples much appreciated, here or direct to my bloomie address.

Thanks & best,

Fabio fabfx@bloomberg.net

Hi Fabio.

Thanks for clarifying your situation and the perspective you maintain on this subject. Yes, FTTD, depending on how it is deployed could easily be seen as game-changing. That's actually an appropriate way for describing it.

Using fiber strategically throughout the trading room and many other parts of the enterprise where it's not currently being us could also be paradigm shifting in much more profound ways too, with respect to how latency is dealt with for algorithmic/program trading, say, or in terms of infrastructure design where it could save tons of cash on electric powering, real estate and a/c costs as well.

But the foregoing areas are merely where the first signs of apparent benefits show up. As you peel the layers of the onion back a plethora of other benefits begin to shine through in some surprsing ways as well. I should like to take this up with you again here tomorrow, or later in the week, or perhaps via email at some point. It's rather late at this point. For now, it's been nice chatting with you.

BR, Frank

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I shall vote for Fibre to be Universalized for all signal transmissions above 1Mhz

Let Aluminium do the 50>60Hz power above 100V and above 1Amp.

Let all flexibles remain Copper.

Let DC Volts and below 5Amp current remain Copper.

Let Copper not be depleted any longer.