Optiver chooses AMD enterprise portfolio

Using AMD EPYC™ processors, AMD Solarflare low-latency Ethernet adapters, AMD Virtex™ FPGAs, and AMD Alveo™ adaptable accelerators, Optiver is addressing a variety of technical challenges in capital markets to build systems that make financial markets more advanced.

“We’re a team of researchers and engineers driven by a common vision: building systems that make financial markets better,” said Alexander Itkin, U.S. chief technology officer, Optiver. "We are constantly pushing the limits, whether it’s challenging the speed of light to minimize latency or building world-leading computational scale. We need computing infrastructure that enables us to navigate the complexities of the capital markets in nanoseconds. For us, this is only possible with high-performance products from AMD, which help us successfully and continuously adapt to financial markets."

“AMD is uniquely positioned to meet the needs of commercial customers with a robust and diverse portfolio of compute engines that enable impressive performance and energy efficiency; two critical components of the modern data center,” said Archana Vemulapalli, corporate vice president, Commercial Enterprise, AMD. “Our work with Optiver is a great example of how we work together with customers to push the limits of what is possible, while demonstrating the capabilities of an AMD commercial solution and how it can address both present-day and future challenges for our customers.”

The specific AMD enterprise products that enable Optiver to modernize its infrastructure and unlock speed and efficiency for its business include:

· AMD EPYC CPUs: Optiver is using 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors to build out large-scale compute needed to drive data analysis and deliver core density for the company’s data center modernization and workload consolidation efforts.

· Solarflare Ethernet Adapters: Optiver also uses the AMD Solarflare X2 series Ethernet network adapters designed for high-performance electronic trading environments. These adapters provide low-level control of network interfaces at the application level, allowing Optiver to better design systems to scale and stay competitive.

· Virtex UltraScale+ FPGAs: The exponential growth of data demands smart network and data center solutions that reach beyond fixed-function silicon devices to deliver maximum throughput, high data processing capability, and the flexibility to adapt to evolving connectivity standards. The AMD Virtex™ UltraScale+™ VU23P FPGA helps Optiver accelerate its systems while remaining endlessly adaptable.

· Alveo Accelerators: Optiver utilizes the AMD Alveo U55C and Alveo UL3524 adaptable accelerator cards, the latter of which delivers a 7X latency improvement over prior generation FPGA technology[1].

“Our ultimate goal was to get faster access to data and information that is critical to meet the unique needs and workflows that the financial industry demands,” said Kevin Sprague, U.S. hardware lead, Optiver. “The high-performance Alveo ultra-low latency cards are critical to helping us move more information, faster. Our collaboration with AMD helped us develop the products and features our industry demands. Additionally, our joint work has allowed us to expand and optimize our offering by leveraging not only AMD FPGAs, but also AMD EPYC CPUs to build out high-performance trading systems and infrastructure.”