At a Flagg Management HPC on Wall Street event back in 2011, then CEO of Myricom Nan Boden, was pitching the concept of Ultra-low Latency for Windows. As a setup for this concept, she asked the audience how many used Linux for their low latency trading platforms. I was sitting in the back, but could easily see many, but not all hands were in the air. She then asked how many used Windows, and from the back, I saw a few lonely hands. Following the session, I commented on how few people were interested, and she said that was correct from my viewpoint in the rear. From her position on the stage nearly half had hands up, just in front of their bodies so few others could see. It was as if low latency trading on Windows were some dirty little secret.

Later that year in August 2011 Myricom went on to release DBL for Windows. While I remained there for another two years following this event, and handling sales for the Eastern region, all those hidden raised hands lead to very few sales, but why? Price was not the issue, DBL for Windows was extremely aggressively positioned against Linux. It wasn’t performance, while it was a measurable amount slower than Linux, it was still considerably faster than default Windows. We never were able to ferret out what the actual issue was. If you’re a Windows user craving ultra-low latency, please consider reaching out to me and sharing your story.

Thank you all for your time this year, and Happy Holidays.