CMC Markets readies private cloud in ASX data centre

Financial services group CMC Markets will move into the ASX’s Australian Liquidity Centre (ALC) as it shifts into a managed services environment.

The move will be the group's first step into cloud computing. The company has been operating under a global model which has seen data centres managed in-house.

The decision to move to the ALC comes after CMC decided to invest in improving its offering rather than sell its stockbroking business, which had been put on the market last year.

“We’re going to be launching new features for our clients, especially looking at the frequent traders,” CMC Markets head of IT Michael Connaghan told iTnews. More mobile apps and additional content for traders via an enhanced website are also part of the plan.

Being located in the ASX data centre also gives CMC the option to consider high-frequency trading, an area it does not currently operate in.

“It’s not something were actively looking right now, but if and when that time comes being in there is step one,” Connaghan said.

He said the ALC offered resiliency and improved security and power, which when combined with the new hardware the group was investing in, would offer traders a faster platform.

“We’re going to get a reduced footprint with a lot more virtualisation, so improved performance to the customer [and] faster pace loading on the platform will let them trade faster.”

Scalability was also a consideration as the group explores new features, functionality and applications.

“We’ll be able to react a lot more quickly as we put on new features if we do need to ramp up the infrastructure than what we had in the past,” Connaghan said.

CMC is working with ASX partner Indicium Technology Group, which was acquired by SMS Management & Technology in July, to develop its managed services solution.

The company went to around seven vendors offering private cloud options.

“We want to be able to know where [the data centre] is," Connaghan said.

"We still control the application side, and we’ve always said we want our data located in Australia, so the private cloud option seemed right for us at this stage.”

The group is hoping to take the learnings from its first managed services move to its parent company.

“At CMC we haven’t done the whole managed service piece before. We’re interested at a global level to see how that goes.”