Technical Requirements for Direct Connection MDF Vendors
Technical Requirements for Direct Connection PRS Vendors
Technical Requirements for Direct Connection IIS Vendors
Technical Requirements for Direct Connection MDF Vendors
Vendors who obtain the market data directly from the HKEx (or so called "direct connection vendors") must meet all the requirements as set out below to ensure that their systems are capable of properly receiving our market data.
1. The system of the direct connection MDF vendors must have sufficient capacity to process the Exchange's market data with minimum latency. The response time for acknowledging the receipt of MDF messages should on average be less than 1 second (i.e. mean delay of less than 1 second). (To achieve minimum latency, vendors are advised to set the TCP Receive Buffer Size to 64K bytes and to allocate dedicated server for interfacing with the MDF host system.)
2. Direct connection MDF vendor must ensure that lines connecting to the Exchange's MDF system meet the minimum bandwidth requirement as set out by the Exchange from time to time. (The minimum bandwidth requirement is at present 1 Mbps and will be increased to 2Mbps by end third quarter of 2008.)
3. MDF vendors who are providing real-time feeds to indirect connection MDF vendors must have dual live connections with the Exchange.
4. Direct connection MDF vendors must be able to detect line failure automatically and reconnect within 1 minute. Such requirement will be included in the MDF Certification Test for new direct connection MDF vendors and will be tested twice a year in the market rehearsals arranged by the Exchange. The results of the market rehearsals will be published on the HKEx website and through other appropriate means for public reference. Please click here for the latest market rehearsal results.
5. Due to the long lead time required for recovering full trade tickers during trading hours which might affect their services, direct connection MDF vendors should avoid requesting full trade ticker download during trading hours immediately after reconnection to the Exchange's MDF System. Vendors are advised to perform full trade ticker recovery after trading hours, unless there is compelling operational or business need to do so during trading hours. Vendors with dual live connections are advised to perform full trade ticker recovery on one of the connections, but not both at the same time. Please click here for the latest market rehearsal results.
6. MDF licence applicant choosing direct connection with the MDF system must have to pass the Certification Test according to the requirements as set out in the MDF Certification Test Procedures before they will be granted the MDF licence.
7. Other technical requirements mentioned in this transmission specification should also be observed
Technical Requirements for Direct Connection PRS Vendors
1. Direct connection PRS vendors must meet all the requirements as set out in the PRS Transmission Specification.
2. Direct connection PRS vendors should ensure that their systems have sufficient capacity to receive and process the Exchange's market data with minimum latency so as not to impair the timeliness of the data.
3. Direct connection PRS vendor must ensure that lines connecting to the Exchange's PRS system meet the minimum bandwidth requirement as set out by the Exchange from time to time. (The minimum bandwidth requirement is at present 1 Mbps and will be increased to 2Mbps by June 2008.)
4. PRS vendors who are providing real-time feeds to indirect connection PRS vendors must have dual live connections with the Exchange.
5. Direct connection PRS vendors must be able to detect line failure automatically and reconnect within 1 minute. Such requirement will be included in the PRS Certification Test for new direct connection PRS vendors and will be tested twice a year in the market rehearsals arranged by the Exchange. The results of the market rehearsals will be published on the HKEx website for public reference. Please click here for the latest market rehearsal results.
6. Direct PRS vendors with retransmission service are advised to download the missing data from the period of disconnection rather than download full day record so as to avoid adverse effect on their services. Vendors with dual live connections should utilize the alternate connection to recover the missing data from the period of disconnection.
7. PRS licence applicant choosing direct connection with the PRS system must have to pass the Certification Test according to the requirements as set out in the PRS Certification Test Procedures before they will be granted the PRS licence.
Technical Requirements for Direct Connection IIS Vendors
1. Direct connection IIS vendors must meet all the requirements as set out in the IIS Transmission Specification.
2. The system of the direct connection IIS vendors must have sufficient capacity to process the Exchange's news data with minimum latency. To achieve minimum latency, vendors are advised to set the TCP Receive Buffer Size to 64K bytes and to allocate dedicated server for interfacing with the IIS host system.)
3. Direct connection IIS vendor must ensure that lines connecting to the Exchange's IIS system meet the minimum bandwidth requirement as set out by the Exchange from time to time. (The minimum bandwidth requirement is at present 2 Mbps.)
4. IIS vendors must have dual live connections with the Exchange.
5. Direct connection IIS vendors must be able to detect line failure automatically and reconnect within 5 minutes. Such requirement will be included in the IIS Certification Test for new direct connection IIS vendors and will be tested once a year in the market rehearsals arranged by the Exchange. The results of the market rehearsals will be published on the HKEx website for public reference.
6. Due to the long lead time required for full news recovery during the operation hours, direct connection IIS vendors can only request one full news recovery through a single connection session. A re-connection is required for additional full news recovery. Vendors are advised to perform full news recovery on one of the dual live connections, but not both at the same time.
7. Direct connection IIS vendors have to pass the Certification Test according to the requirements as set out in the IIS Certification Test Procedures before they will be granted the IIS licence.
Where a direct connection vendor repetitively fails one or more of the above requirements, we may require the vendor to appoint an external auditor to conduct a technical audit on its systems to prove that it is still fit to conduct the vending business. If the external audit identifies deficiencies with the vendor's system, the vendor will also be required to produce an action plan to address those deficiencies. If the vendor declines to take the above remedial actions, we may consider suspending the data transmission and in the worst case terminating the vendor's licence.