The ironic thing is the microwave links are way older than fiber optics, so "re-inventing" is probably a more appropriate way of describing it...
LOL, I wonder if the guy got greedy... I know one fund that closed that the owner did it the other way around... he basically continued to hire his programmers to continue supporting the software that managed his money... dood had close to 1b... and he likes money so he kept on at it...
Makes sense. Thanks for the explanation. The last story was funny and insightful. Btw - off the skills you noted viz. Linux kernal, crazy network card drivers, some custom written Assembly - I possess none of them. And I have been dreaming that next step in my trading career should be moving towards HFT with probably rolling out my first systems sometime towards end of 2014 (on emerging non-US markets). That was quite a reality-check. LOL.
Yeah, datacenter physical security is ridiculous. To actually physically get in there I have to be escorted by someone with a registered retina. It's like someone smart realized that walking into one of those places with a bomb would cause some serious problems. I'm less concerned about my code than most. I know a few of my employees could recreate it all from whole if they wanted to and if you are running a trading business you always have to choose between hiring smart people who are smart enough to steal from you or dumb people who can't make money.
Yeah, he was a jerk and super greedy. The entire group (of 4) waited out their non-compete and put themselves up for sale. I love it when (other) people make decisions while drunk.
to echo some of the comments here, strategy theft is really a non-issue. if you're making money, it's a very high probability you're not doing anything new. ALL of the cost (and true value) is infrastructure, be it hardware or code, and the latter you're not going to be storing remotely.
what about datafeed? iqfeed servers are located in NE, doesn't that defeat the purpose of colocating near the exchange if your datasource is far away. any data feed suggestions?
No, it more is a case of "don't select a ridiculous data source if you want to be fast". If you need HFT, you need a HFT capable data source. It is not like you are tied by death to IqFeed, or? Which, btw., is a typical low end retail feed.
ok this is ridiculous lol i've searched the net and ET and cannot find my answer: what is a good reliable & fast data feed that provides fast exection / low latency and NOT high frequency and is affordable for the little guys and has servers near exchanges
What markets? CME: Rithmic. The API has a data feed for that purpose. You may get it as multicast if you colocate right.