Nasdaq Says MCI Finishes Installing Trading System (Update1)
Bloomberg News
September 22, 1999, 3:51 p.m. ET
Nasdaq Says MCI Finishes Installing Trading System (Update1)
(Adds company comment, details. Updates share price.)
Washington, Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The Nasdaq Stock Market
said MCI WorldCom Inc. finished installing a new trading system
ahead of schedule, doubling the market's trading capacity to
4 billion shares a day.
The new system will be able to handle the trades at double
the speed of the previous system. Nasdaq said the system can be
''scaled up'' to handle 8 billion shares, if necessary. Average
Nasdaq volume in 1999 is 985 million shares a day, with the peak
of 1.4 billion reached on April 14, Nasdaq said.
The system boosts capacity at Nasdaq as it heads toward its
first 2-billion-share day, expected some time next year. Message
traffic delays have been eliminated as well, an MCI WorldCom
official said. The system is now operating, having been installed
over several months.
''This system has significant headroom,'' said Richard
Sabatini, executive technical manager of MCI WorldCom Global
Accounts. ''Nasdaq now has all the ability to handle its expected
increases in trading.''
Nasdaq expects its first 4-billion-share day in 2002, said
Gregar Bailor, chief information officer at the Washington-based
exchange. The system has been tested for 4 billion shares. Eight
billion shares has been tested by extrapolating from the 4-
billion-share tests, MCI WorldCom officials said. The system is
Y2K compliant.
To get to 8 billion capacity, MCI WorldCom will have to
install extra equipment over several months. Company and exchange
officials said they'll begin considering the installations when
Nasdaq's daily trading average reaches 2 billion.
MCI WorldCom, the No. 2 U.S. long-distance phone company,
installed a new Enterprise Wide Network II for Nasdaq as part of
a $600 million contract awarded in November 1997.
The shares of MCI WorldCom, based in Jackson, Mississippi,
fell 1 1/4 to 80 13/16 in late trading.
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