The European derivatives exchange operator will continue to make its colocation services a significant segment of its operations going forward.

With speed and low latency continuing to play an integral part of many investors’ trading strategies, Eurex plans to focus on improving its own colocation services.

“Colocation in Frankfurt will continue to be a big part of our business,” said Vassilis Vergotis, executive vice president and head of Eurex’s Americas offices.

Eurex has been offering low latency connectivity for its customers since 2006, when it launched what it called a proximity service through a facility in Frankfurt. It plans to roll out an upgrade for its current colocation service infrastructure, which is located at an Equinix data center, in December.

As exchanges look to move outside their core business of matching trades and toward diversification, the introduction of co-location services has become an increasingly common route.

CME Group is set to launch its new co-location facility early next year, in what is expected to be a lucrative source of revenue and a key part of its operations going forward. Its co-location services, which will include hosting, connectivity and support services, will go live on Jan. 29, 2012. Exchanges worldwide are looking to increase the speed and lower the latency of their trading platforms, which most directly benefits high-frequency traders. Co-location facilities are located as close to their machine engine as possible, giving trading firms, including HFT firms, nearly instant execution times. HFT has grown to about 75 percent of trading volume in the U.S., according to industry estimates.

The service is expected to become a lucrative source of additional revenue for exchange operators, as they capitalize on the quest for speed sought by active, high-volume traders. CME Group has previously said that it expects to generate between $30 million and $40 million from co-location services when they launch next year.