Alpha and Q9 Establish Technology Hub Initiative

TORONTO , Oct. 28 /CNW/ - Alpha Trading Systems Limited Partnership (Alpha) and Q9 Networks Inc. (Q9) are pleased to announce that they have entered into a strategic partnership to facilitate Alpha's development of a technology services hub for the benefit of Canada's financial industry. The technology hub will support trading activity on Alpha and other marketplaces in Canada .

The hub offers participants the opportunity to co-locate their own equipment within the secure confines of a Q9 data centre or use Q9 managed hardware services to connect directly to the Alpha trading platform, avoiding the need for remote connectivity and thereby significantly increasing performance.

"The strategic partnership between Alpha and Q9 is an important step in the creation of an advanced, reliable, low latency technology hub that will facilitate trading activity in Canada for those participants wishing to connect to Alpha and other key service providers," said Alpha's Head of Technology, Karl Ottywill. "It will provide all equity market participants, including smaller organizations that would not otherwise have access to 'Near Market Trading' activities, with an opportunity to take advantage of such services. This will be beneficial to the entire industry and allow the Canadian market to compete successfully in an increasingly competitive global environment."

"Q9 is delighted to extend its relationship with Alpha by offering services to Alpha's trading partners through the technology hub," said Osama Arafat, CEO, Q9 Networks. "Direct connections within the data centre between business partners and other communities of interest that seek to minimize latency and maximize security are a growing trend. Alpha is an excellent example of a forward-thinking organization that is exploiting the full potential of Q9's industry-leading services."

About Alpha Trading Systems:

Alpha Group comprises the leading Alternative Trading System for Canadian Listed Securities (Alpha ATS), and a data distribution plant for Alpha ATS market data. Alpha Group was established in May, 2007 by nine of Canada's leading financial institutions with the aim of increasing the country's securities trading efficiencies and making the Canadian marketplace more globally competitive. Established for the Industry by the Industry; the Alpha Group focuses on increasing liquidity, reducing the cost of trading and providing innovative services leveraging its unique expertise, operating model and technological capabilities. For further information regarding Alpha Group, visit www.alphatradingsystems.ca.

About Q9 Networks:

Q9 Networks is a leading Canadian provider of outsourced data centre infrastructure for organizations with mission-critical IT operations. Q9's data centres and network are backed by an industry leading SLA which guarantees 100% network and power availability. Q9 managed services, including: bandwidth, dedicated servers, firewalls, load balancing, virtual private networking (VPN) and back-up/restore, enable the rapid provisioning and scalability of client infrastructure.

For further information: Kevin Spikes, Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications, Q9 Networks, Telephone: [phone], Toll Free: 1-888-696-2266; Ian Hendry, Chief Administration Officer, Alpha Trading Systems Limited Partnership, Telephone: [phone], [email protected]