CME Group and Google Cloud are partnering up to build a new cloud-based network and facilities in the Chicago suburbs that will allow the exchange operator to shift its futures and options trading into the cloud.
Google’s headquarters, the Googleplex, in 2016
The two companies will construct cloud and colocation facilities, space they rent to clients for their own information technology equipment, adjacent to CME’s existing data center in Aurora, Illinois, about 40 miles outside Chicago, Bloomberg reports.
Construction will kick off later in 2024, and the transition to the new network will happen in phases, the companies said in a press release.
“Locating the platform in the new private Google Cloud region in the Chicago area will allow CME Group’s clients to utilize existing connectivity options and access points to other global markets,” the companies said.
The new platform will allow CME Group’s clients to expand their flexibility, strengthen their operational efficiencies and increase access to cloud services. Clients will be able to experiment with, test and deploy new strategies without impacting their production trading environments, according to the release.
“This is a significant step forward in our partnership with Google Cloud that is revolutionizing our industry,” CME Group Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy said in the release.
Keeping the data center in the Chicago area follows opposition from market makers and high-speed trading firms to moving elsewhere, sources told Bloomberg.
Traders prefer to have infrastructure near or in the data center to ensure speedier transfers of information, which leads to a small advantage over others that are farther away, the outlet reported.
In addition, building out infrastructure elsewhere would take time and money, sources told Bloomberg.
The project underlines how algorithms and hyperfast speeds have transformed futures trading, which was once carried out on huge open floors crowded with traders, The Chicago Sun-Times reported.