Hedge funds and investment firms are continuing to leverage the cloud to meet day-to-day operational goals and maximize their business efficiencies, and the rate of adoption is growing at a rapid pace.

Private cloud adoption and cloud usage satisfaction levels are rising among financial services firms, according to a survey released by Eze Castle Integration. Conducted in partnership with IDG Research, the survey examined the benefits of the technology and considerations hedge funds undertake when choosing the type of cloud, services and their service providers.

“Adoption of cloud services are at an all-time high as alternative investment firms embrace the significant benefits delivered by this technology delivery model,” said Bob Guilbert, managing director of Eze Castle Integration. “We expect private cloud services to remain the top choice of investment firms for years to come.”

The results from the 2013 survey further expand on why and how financial services firms are implementing cloud services, building upon the 2012 survey results which showed that eight out of 10 investment management firms were using or planning to use cloud services, Guilbert said.

Firms expect to achieve success in the coming years as the cloud affords them better data management capabilities and improved resource utilization – ultimately giving them the tools they need to focus on their primary investment decisions.

“It will be interesting to see how the rate of cloud adoption grows in the near future and in what new and exciting ways firms begin to use the cloud to optimize their businesses,” Guilbert said.

The survey clearly shows that investment firms of all sizes are looking to reduce complexities, simplify their technology management and control costs all while maintaining success on the investment front. Whether using public, private or hybrid cloud models, firms are generally satisfied with their cloud deployments and many expect to increase their cloud usage and budgets in the near future.

The survey found that the private cloud deployment model continues to be the top choice for investment firms, with 74 percent of respondents using a private cloud to meet all or part of their IT and application needs. While cloud security is often cited as a concern, an overwhelming number of respondents (93 percent) said that the private cloud is more secure than or just as secure as on-premise infrastructure.

Separately, Options, a private financial cloud provider for the global capital markets, has deployed Arista Networks’ low latency switching for the firm’s ultra-low latency co-location clients in European exchange hosting facilities operated by the London Stock Exchange (LSE), NYSE, and the Deutsche Boerse.

This upgrade will ensure the lowest possible latency for European exchange clients of Options’ PIPE Velocity, the IaaS provider’s ultra-low latency market data, connectivity and application hosting service.
“We are always striving to maintain an optimized trading environment for our clients who require the lowest point-to-point network latency and highest throughput capacity possible to successfully drive their trading strategies,” said Options CEO Nigel Kneafsey. “Upgrading connectivity in each of these markets has been a major focus for Options through the first half of 2013 and we’re pleased to deliver on this effort.”

Options PIPE Velocity is one of three IaaS offerings provided via the Options Private Financial Cloud Platform, providing ultra-low latency market data, high throughput market connectivity and vendor neutral application hosting as a managed service for all major markets across North America, Europe and Asia.