Steadfast Financial Networks

My name is Ryan Hayes and I am Director of Business Development at Steadfast Networks. In an earlier post Karl mentioned the launch of Steadfast Financial Networks. We've received some questions in response to a recent New York Times article on high-frequency trading, so I'd like to take some time to discuss computers and finance in general, Steadfast's involvement with the financial industry, and explain what this acquisition means for our business overall. Computers and finance have a long history going back to at least the 1970s when the New York Stock Exchange introduced a computerized ordering system to speed up execution and meet the demands of increased exchange volume. The 1980s saw a large growth in computerized trading, with many of the algorithmic trading and cash management strategies like those of Ed Seykota being among the most successful. The 1990s and 2000s saw an explosion in computer-based trading with firms like Renaissance Technologies taking in billions of dollars a year. It's clear that computers in finance are here to stay. And while there are critics of the effect that computerized trading has had on the volatility of stock markets and market stability, it's difficult to deny that they've been a net benefit to the industry and to the economy at large: not only increasing profit potential, but also increasing available liquidity on the markets and allowing orderly, error-free processing of trillions of dollars worth of transactions that we see on modern equities and commodities exchanges and which contribute to the overall functioning of our economy. Our involvement with financial firms, and in particular with high-speed trading started in the late 2000s when we noticed increased demand for our colocation offerings from financial firms. Since this demand has kept up and experiencing first hand the frequent complexity of working with third parties, we decided to supplement our existing offering with trading-specific services including market data, consulting, and expanded colocation and IP transport offerings in New York and Europe. We discussed with a number of existing firms about partnering, but in the end decided that it was best—for us and our customers—to do things our own way, which is why we acquired Radius IT and formed Steadfast Financial Networks. Overall, our goal is to expand our footprint in enterprise and professional IT infrastructure services and the Financial Networks division is an integral part of this. This works organically with our existing goals of expanding our IP transit and transport network and colocation presence around the world and will benefit all of our customers. We continue to aggressively invest in all areas of our business and will have some new product offerings out soon to supplement our existing line up of hosting products. At Steadfast, we have no aspiration to be “yet another hosting provider”, but seek out unique opportunities that work with our overall goals, work to the advantage of our customers, and allow us to increase the quality of our products. Steadfast Financial Networks is another step in that direction. Steadfast Financial Networks service offerings: http://steadfastfn.com/solutions.html Information on Steadfast's acquisition of Radius IT: http://www.onwallstreet.com/news/steadfast-radius-2670700-1.html Recent New York Times article on high-speed trading: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/business/02speed.html