hybrid cloud case study (interoute)

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“The AlwaysOn feature in Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise manages high availability and disaster recovery needs for Caxton FX through a single solution. The system is up all the time.” Mark Faithfull, Chief Technology Officer, Caxton FX Foreign exchange specialist Caxton FX wanted a secure database platform for its trading system, combining real-time replication, reporting services, and data warehouse capabilities. It chose Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise data management software in a hybrid cloud configuration. It uses a cloud-based data centre managed by Microsoft Gold Partner Interoute, with replication to a second physical database at Caxton FX. Business Needs Founded in 2001 and with an annual turnover of £700 million, Caxton FX specialises in foreign exchange and international payments transactions, as well as analysis and reports on foreign currency markets. It deals in both large and small transactions—from its prepaid currency cards that offer fee-free travel money to robust hedging strategies for multimillion pound deals. In a fast-moving business such as foreign exchange, price and service have been the guiding principles that have helped Caxton FX—which is regulated by the United Kingdom Financial Services Authority— earn a reputation for excellence in customer care. In this competitive industry, technology is a key driver for both the trading and analytical sides of the business, which need support systems with high levels of performance, availability, and security. Mark Faithfull, Chief Technology Officer, Caxton FX, says: “We wanted to run all our reports and foreign exchange transactions on a single trading platform, which is up around the clock. For that to work effectively, we needed a database platform for our replacement settlements and a Microsoft SQL Server Customer Solution Case Study Currency Trading Database Hits Maximum Uptime with Hybrid Cloud Solution Customer: Caxton FX Website: www.caxtonfx.com Customer Size: 65 Country or Region: United Kingdom Industry: Financial services Partner: Interoute Customer Profile Caxton FX is a privately owned foreign exchange and international payments provider based in London in the United Kingdom. It focuses on foreign exchange deals, online currency transfers, and prepaid currency cards. Software and Services Microsoft Server Product Portfolio Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Windows Server 2008 R2 For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit: www.microsoft.com/casestudies

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Page 1: Hybrid Cloud Case Study (Interoute)

“The AlwaysOn feature in Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Enterprise manages high availability and disaster

recovery needs for Caxton FX through a single solution.

The system is up all the time.”

Mark Faithfull, Chief Technology Officer, Caxton FX

Foreign exchange specialist Caxton FX wanted a secure database

platform for its trading system, combining real-time replication,

reporting services, and data warehouse capabilities. It chose

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise data management

software in a hybrid cloud configuration. It uses a cloud-based

data centre managed by Microsoft Gold Partner Interoute, with

replication to a second physical database at Caxton FX.

Business Needs Founded in 2001 and with an annual

turnover of £700 million, Caxton FX

specialises in foreign exchange and

international payments transactions, as

well as analysis and reports on foreign

currency markets. It deals in both large

and small transactions—from its prepaid

currency cards that offer fee-free travel

money to robust hedging strategies for

multimillion pound deals.

In a fast-moving business such as foreign

exchange, price and service have been the

guiding principles that have helped Caxton

FX—which is regulated by the United

Kingdom Financial Services Authority—

earn a reputation for excellence in

customer care. In this competitive industry,

technology is a key driver for both the

trading and analytical sides of the

business, which need support systems with

high levels of performance, availability,

and security.

Mark Faithfull, Chief Technology Officer,

Caxton FX, says: “We wanted to run all our

reports and foreign exchange transactions

on a single trading platform, which is up

around the clock. For that to work

effectively, we needed a database platform

for our replacement settlements and a

Microsoft SQL Server

Customer Solution Case Study

Currency Trading Database Hits Maximum

Uptime with Hybrid Cloud Solution

Customer: Caxton FX

Website: www.caxtonfx.com

Customer Size: 65

Country or Region: United Kingdom

Industry: Financial services

Partner: Interoute

Customer Profile

Caxton FX is a privately owned foreign

exchange and international payments

provider based in London in the United

Kingdom. It focuses on foreign exchange

deals, online currency transfers, and

prepaid currency cards.

Software and Services

Microsoft Server Product Portfolio

− Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Enterprise

− Windows Server 2008 R2

For more information about other

Microsoft customer successes, please visit:

www.microsoft.com/casestudies

Page 2: Hybrid Cloud Case Study (Interoute)

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published October 2012

trading system that combined real-time

replication, reporting services, and data

warehouse capabilities.”

To support its highly experienced foreign

exchange analysts, Caxton FX needed a

reliable platform through which analysts

could create their own self-service business

intelligence reports. They needed to use

real-time financial data while having the

authority to query the data to discover

business trends. Faithfull says: “Our aim was

to build a solid platform for the future of

the organisation.”

Solution Caxton FX decided to take advice from

Microsoft Gold Partner Interoute—formerly

Quantix, which is now part of Interoute, the

owner of Europe’s largest cloud services

platform.

Interoute proposed using Microsoft SQL

Server 2012 Enterprise with Windows Server

2008 R2 Service Pack 2 to support both the

trading side of the business and the

analysts. It includes features that will help

Caxton FX scale and maintain performance

as its business continues to grow and

financial markets globalise. SQL Server 2012

runs on standard commodity hardware,

providing a low total cost of ownership, and

has the capacity to capture and process an

increasing number of complex trades.

Julian Boneham, Sales Director, Interoute,

says: “We proposed a hybrid solution,

running the trading platform in the private

cloud at the Interoute data centre. This

involved real-time replication to a second

database hosted within the Caxton FX

internal cloud infrastructure, which is part of

a data warehouse and real-time reporting

service. The AlwaysOn feature in Microsoft

SQL Server 2012 Enterprise manages high

availability and disaster recovery needs for

Caxton FX through a single solution. The

system is up all the time.”

In addition, Interoute is designing the new

infrastructure to ensure that Caxton FX can

deliver the highest levels of security for its

currency trading and prepaid currency

card clients.

Benefits Microsoft SQL Server 2012 is providing

Caxton FX with a reliable, cost-effective,

low-maintenance database framework,

supporting both process-intensive trades

as well as self-service reports for analysts,

without experiencing any dip in

performance. With reduced licensing,

hardware and administration costs, Caxton

FX is building a strong business for the

future.

Hybrid configuration extends life

cycle of IT assets. Caxton FX is

benefiting from the additional security

of running the trading platform in the

private cloud at the Interoute data

centre, with real-time replication to a

second database hosted within the

Caxton FX internal cloud infrastructure.

As a result, it has avoided the costs

associated with a major infrastructure

project, while extending the life cycle of

the IT systems already in place.

Licensing model cuts total cost of

ownership. Caxton FX has a Microsoft

Services Enterprise Agreement for low-

cost volume licensing of software, which

also includes the Licence Mobility

feature of Software Assurance. Faithfull

says: “We wanted to take advantage of

the new era of cloud computing, while

continuing to extract value from our

existing IT assets. Licence Mobility helps

us extend the value of our server

application licences by deploying them

on-premises or in the cloud.”

Real-time replication keeps analytics

relevant. The real-time replication

feature of SQL Server 2012 means

Caxton FX can run complex queries and

reports on the local reporting instance

of the database. It is always up to date

and operates without compromising the

online transaction processing

performance of the trading platform.

Cloud-based service delivers simpler

systems management. Running the

trading platform in the private cloud at

the Interoute data centre with

replication to Caxton FX has dramatically

improved the resilience of the solution.

In addition, there is no increase in IT

costs compared to the previous

architecture.