Architects of Electronic Trading: Technology Leaders Who Are Shaping Today's Financial Markets

CHAPTER 7

Cloud Computing

Moving toward Acceptance

Competitive pressure in the industry is forcing firms to investigate ways to optimize their IT infrastructures and at the same time maximize cost efficiencies. Cloud computing, which includes the decentralized delivery of hardware and/or software as a service via a network, is one answer. It offers significant advantages for participants in the financial markets, which are not limited to shared economics. The agility that is characteristic of cloud technology makes it a natural fit for the dynamic financial industry. In this chapter, Ken Barnes of Options IT, a specialist provider of private financial cloud services, discusses the headwinds facing cloud computing and the prospects for its widespread adoption.

If cloud computing holds such promise, why has the industry been slow to embrace it? Among other reasons, fears about availability and security have dampened enthusiasm for cloud computing. The good news is that advances in technologies that enhance cloud computing are helping to dispel concerns. Cloud computing success stories in non-financial sectors of the economy have encouraged the financial industry to sit up and take notice; Amazon and Facebook have proven the viability of cloud computing in a very public way.

Just what is cloud computing? Generally speaking, it utilizes economies of scale to reduce computing costs for a shared network of users; the cloud moniker is traceable to the diagram used in network diagrams. ...