TSX Group’s incoming chief information pfficer Brenda Hoffman today announced a plan to replace core trading engine hardware with new HP Integrity NonStop servers that use the Intel Itanium 2 processor.

According Hoffman, “Our current system will become more efficient as we expect to be able to increase order throughput and at the same time decrease order response times.”

This project is expected to go live in the summer 2007. TSX Group is acquiring the new trading technology hardware and software licences with a value in excess of $20 million. It will continue to enhance TSX Group’s current trading platform while assisting in the transition to the next generation platform and continue to provide customers with speed and unparalleled system availability. The expenditures will occur over 36 months, replace existing leases and will be in line with current trading engine spending.

This is the latest phase of the TSXPress initiative which was launched in mid-2005 that is an innovative series of trading system enhancements aimed at optimizing execution speeds for algorithmic traders on our current platform. The new hardware will provide TSX Group’s exchanges with faster messaging capabilities and greater overall computer processing power.

Work also continues on the scheduled implementation of TSX Group’s next generation state-of-the-art trading platform. The platform, announced earlier this year, is based on new blade technology. It is expected to have leading messaging capabilities to be able to meet the ever-changing needs of the marketplace and have response times in the single digit millisecond range, equal to, or better than, any equities exchange group in the world. A phased transition from the current trading platform to new technology is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2007.

TSX Markets President Rik Parkhill said, “Our technology provides us with a platform to acquire a larger share of the algorithmic trading that’s growing both within Canada but also across the border.”