After a whole lot of pre-launch media hype, the NYSE Euronext's new trading facility in Mahwah, N.J., has quietly come to life. About 19 stocks were scheduled to start trading on powerful "matching engines" housed inside. By September, all NYSE-listed stocks will be trading at the new high-tech facility. ARCA is also scheduled to migrate over. This of course should be transparent to the market as a whole.

A lot of co-location and designated market maker participants have been gearing up for some time. The significance of the move has been discussed ad nauseum. But the launch itself has given rise to some interesting color. The Tabb Group's Kevin McPartland, who has visited the facility, told clients that the facility looked "more like a prison than the future hub of U.S. capital markets." He added: "It could have just as well been Area 51 or CIA headquarters. Fences, cameras, guards and ID scanners are everywhere, yet the buttonwood trees and picnic tables out front made it feel like a nice place to spend an afternoon."

The only signage noting the property's high-profile tenant is a plaque near a buttonwood, which notes the data center "houses the most technologically advanced financial marketplace in the world." Security is obviously tight. A photographer for a local paper was apprehended by police as he tried to take pictures.

For more:
- here's an update from NorthJersey.com

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