1. Introduction

It seems like everybody in our industry cites the recent dramatic rise in market data rates as a evidence that some action must be taken in response. The predicted future rise of market data rates is often given as a reason to buy a vendor's product (ours included). At 29West, we would of course be thrilled if you bought our LBM or UME messaging products. However we've come to believe that possession of the right software tools must be coupled with the right techniques and strategies in order to deal most effectively with current and future market data rates.

Following sections give pragmatic, technical advice for action that can be taken to cope with current and future market data rates. This represents the "best practices" we've seen in the industry among companies committed to handling increasing market data rates with the lowest-possible latency.

The advice is separated into sections, each of which has a central theme. Benefits will be likely if advice from one section is taken independently of others. But the greatest benefits will come from integrating all of the advice into a cohesive strategy for dealing with market data rate increases.

The sections are presented roughly in order from those which seem to be most often practiced by firms that seem to be effectively coping with rising market data rates down to those which are more weakly correlated with effective coping.