Over thirty years ago, Optiver started business as a single trader on the floor of Amsterdam’s European Options Exchange. Today, they are a leading global electronic market maker, focused on pricing, execution and risk management.

In 2002, Optiver moved its US base from NYC to Chicago, home of the US derivatives market.

Recently, they required an upgrade to their wireless network and needed to be able to connect several different buildings together to optimize their communication. In the trading business, fractions of a second mean dollars, so the need to keep up with the best technology is paramount.

TCG took on this task, creating a multi-jump link connecting the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to the Intercontinental Exchange. This was accomplished by installing cabinets at six locations to house cellular radios, power distribution, circuit breakers, and battery backups. Then, cabling was run to towers or pipe masts, depending on the needs at each location, where transmitting and receiving radios were installed, and aligned. The distances covered in some instances measured in miles, so the alignment had to be absolutely perfect to ensure operation at the highest possible efficiency and with the least amount of data loss.

The installation was started on April 12, 2017 and completed April 26, 2017.