There's long been arbitrage activity that requires tight links between the futures and options markets in Chicago and the stock markets in New York. To grease that activity, there's been a lot of motion to build a better fiber network. Spread Networks has made quite a splash with its new Chicago-to-New York link up.

The startup is headed by David Barksdale, a former lawyer, who happens to be the son of esteemed entrepreneur James Barksdale. The two were wise enough to stock the management team with former Wall Street executives, including execs from NYSE Euronext (NYSE news) and NYFIX, who perceived the need for lower latency solutions. They are pitching the 825-mile fiber link as the fastest ever between the two cities.

Infinera has already announced a solution built on top of the network, which is being pitched as an ideal optical network for "accelerating high performance trading platforms and speeding information delivery." Low-latency gear from ADVA, Ciena and JDS Uniphase has also been approved by Spread.

We'll have to see how fast Wall Street firms sign up for service and how it might be used. Expect the marketing to commence shortly. There will likely be other uses as well. And you can bet that other network providers won't stand still.

For more:
- here's an article from Light Reading
- here's a Securities Industry News article

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