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While NYSE Euronext has some very high-profile assets - namely the NYSE, Archipelago and Euronext - one of its less-high-profile assets may be one of its most important: NYSE TransactTools. For those who don't know, TransactTools was a developer of FIX-enabled connectivity platforms and management tools that NYSE Euronext acquired in 2007. Soon after the deal closed, TransactTools was given charge of the NYSE's network (SFTI - pronounced "safety"). Earlier this year, NYSE TransactTools acquired Wombat, one of the leaders in high-speed/low-latency market data distribution platforms.
So why should we care about an exchange-based, FIX-engine provider tied to a network and a market data distributor? The answer is, TransactTools could be the ticket to the NYSE's survival.
To say the business of matching equity orders is competitive is an understatement. Exchanges and ECNs, such as Nasdaq and BATS, are forcing net trading fees down to one or two cents per hundred shares, and in some cases, ECNs...