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Every day, financial services professionals are managing the unpredictable nature of the global supply chain while navigating increasingly volatile markets amid persistent forecasts of a looming recession.
In 2019, we launched the Telstra Octagon, an asset management trading solution built on a global network of subsea cables and infrastructure we own and operate. The solution is a secure, dedicated point-to-point private network with 24/7 monitoring of all on-net traffic with automatic trading notifications to customers.
We launched this to help both established and up-and-coming organizations trade faster between key exchanges in North America and dynamic markets in the Asia-Pacific region. Using the Telstra Octagon, global financial trading firms have thrived in hyper-competitive trading environments where the difference between success and failure is measured in milliseconds.
But, what attracts customers to Telstra Octagon, other than its technology?
Frequently, It comes down to three reasons: committed pre-built infrastructure, expedited service delivery, and unmatched expertise and support (which is, arguably, the most important reason of all).
Once a financial services company gets on the Telstra Octagon network, we ensure all services are working properly and fully train every key team member so they can get the most out of this new trading technology.
The Telstra Octagon can also support emerging financial trading activities such as cryptocurrency exchange environments, which require network connectivity that can keep pace with the constant change and volatility in that space.
What’s the next phase of the Telstra Octagon?
The goal for the first phase of the Telstra Octagon’s launch was fast connectivity among global tier-one exchanges. The second phase, which has recently been completed, was connecting partners’ financial data centers. We’ve also continually enhanced our capabilities among the major location in the Asia-Pacific region, including Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.
We’ve also made network enhancements to the Telstra Octagon that have enabled a greater range of customer activity. It's been optimized to reach extended markets such as over the counter (OTC) trading markets and institutional trading environments that also require lower latency and high bandwidth connectivity.
Telstra’s 250,000-mile network of subsea cables is the underlying foundation of the Telstra Octagon. As that network continually evolves and as Telstra invests in new network partnerships such as Southern Cross Next, the benefits of these efforts have also trickled down to Telstra Octagon in the form of increased stability, resiliency and redundancy.
Ready for cryptocurrency connectivity?
Cryptocurrency (crypto) is a decentralized (i.e., non-governmental) digital currency that can be used as an exchange medium for traditional currencies or to purchase goods and services. There is increasing interest globally in crypto among companies, governments, and banks, as more realize its many benefits.
Unlike traditional stock exchanges, cryptocurrency digital transactions occur in the cloud.
For the crypto world, the Telstra Octagon enables low-latency connectivity into most leading cloud providers through our network infrastructure, our IP network, and the partnerships and relationships we have with those cloud and software providers.
Connection between cryptocurrency and colocation?
Cryptocurrency mining is how new cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin enters circulation. The process involves computer-intensive applications that use more power per rack than average applications.
The demand for data center solutions that can meet the needs of the cryptocurrency industry is growing exponentially, and multi-tenant data center (MTDC) operators are uniquely positioned to help fill the gap in the market by providing the computing power, and electrical and cooling infrastructure that’s required.
It’s a growing market and one worth watching.
The global data center colocation market size is expected to reach $117.82 billion (USD) by 2028, with an annual growth rate of 13.3% from 2021 to 2028, according to a study by Grand View Research, Inc.
The data center construction market is estimated to experience annual growth of 9% in the U.S. and 11.2% worldwide between 2020 and 2025—reaching $34.5 billion, up from $22.6 billion in 2019, according to Research and Markets.
Consequently, the Telstra Octagon’s use case for cryptocurrency trading is a bit different. With crypto, blockchain is the underlying foundation. Transactions made using cryptocurrency are publicly stored using blockchain technology and secured by cryptography. In comparison, traditional currency is stored in a central bank in public ledgers.
Without blockchain, there's no cryptocurrency exchange.
A blockchain provider might say to us, “we need data center to data center connectivity in this region, and we also need diverse data center co-location.” They likely will also need a diverse choice of IP transit providers and cloud providers as well.
In other words, they need a decentralized model. Telstra offers lots of options for data center connectivity, via subsea, as well as offers requisite diversity for IP transit and cloud connectivity.
Cryptocurrency is certainly here to stay in some form, and it clearly will play a part in the next evolution of Telstra Octagon. As this and other exciting new financial markets develop, Telstra will be there to support any financial trading or exchange application with secure, reliable, and low-latency connectivity.
Telstra Octagon: The network financial services companies didn't know they needed, but really can’t do without.
To learn more about the Telstra Octagon, get in touch with one of our network experts or check out this video.
