Over the past year, NYSE has implemented some 200 new rack-based HP ProLiant DL585 servers, about 400 ProLiant BL685c server blades and several HP Integrity NonStop fault-tolerant servers for its three East Coast data centers.
In a rare glimpse into a mission-critical Wall Street IT operation, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has confirmed that it recently purchased roughly 600 Hewlett-Packard Co. servers in support of its Linux-based online trading system.
NYSE uses Linux because it's a more flexible and cost-effective operating system than most other options, according to Rubinow.
"We favor Linux for what we do. We don't want to be beholden to any one [hardware or software] supplier, even if it is very good. We want the freedom to be vendor-independent, so Linux was a good choice," said Rubinow.
Those HP ProLiant DL585 G2 Servers look sweet. The base version starts at $6,750Open source no problem
NYSE adheres to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission-governed Regulation National Markets System and the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) rules, so using an open source OS, with its perceived licensing and security risks, may be surprising. Rubinow isn't worried, though.
"There is always concern about open source, but those concerns are really minor," Rubinow said. "Up until we have a bad experience, it will be fine. You really never know. Some issue could come out of the woodwork. … But we are regulated by the FCC. If they had any issues with Linux operating systems, they would have certainly voiced them."
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