Back-Ofce FX Volume
Processing & Performance
Broadridge FXL: Back-ofce volume test results

BROADRIDGE FXL PERFORMANCE BENCHMARK WHITE PAPER

Summary
Broadridge conducted a series of volume tests atIntel’s® UK-based FasterLAB in order to validate
FXL’s foreign exchange back ofce transaction
processing capacity.
The tests were designed to prove the scalability and high throughput of theFXL Back Ofce system. Test trades included spot, forward, swaps and futuresusing virtual machines running on industry standard low cost hardware. The FX
processing workfow included validating data, applying standing instructions,generating and formatting MT300s for FX trades which were then passed outof FXL to an external queue, updating positions and publishing positions andexceptions to client blotters in real-time.
Test simulations were run on a single set of hardware and identifed a peak
performance of 450 trades per second and 405,000 trades processed through
FXL’s back ofce in a duration of 15 minutes.
Linear scaling was observed as more virtual servers were added acrossthe physical host servers during testing, which is a signifcant and positive
indication for overall system scalability.
These extraordinary performance benchmark results confrm FXL as thesolution of choice for fnancial service organizations requiring a high-volume,large-scale FX solution.

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BROADRIDGE FXL PERFORMANCE BENCHMARK WHITE PAPER

Introduction

Test Methodology

Broadridge is a specialist provider of global
real-time FX, treasury cash management, limit
monitoring and order management solutions
designed for real-time, high-volume processingof an extensive set of fnancial asset classes
across the front, middle and back ofces. In orderto validate FXL’s foreign exchange back ofcetransaction processing capacity, Broadridge
partnered with Intel’s® UK-based FasterLAB.

FXL volume tests spanned the major points ofFX back ofce processing: transaction capture,
data validation, position updates, standing
instructions application, and the generationand formatting of MT300s.

This white paper details the volume tests
that were run at Intel’s® facilities, the testing
methodology used and benchmark results
achieved. This paper also provides insight into thehardware components and system architectureused across the performance tests.

Tests were conducted using the following
components:• Up to 12 virtual application servers running on

3 physical hosts and 1 physical database server.
– One virtual server confgured to validate data

and update positions.
– Up to 11 virtual servers confgured to validate

and apply standing instructions and generate
confrmations.
• A Custom FX Trade Injector used to insert sets

The test sets upon which theseresults are based were createdusing real-world trade andcustomer data.
Real-world results may vary depending on
actual hardware, number of concurrent users,
system confguration and user operations
being performed.

of trades into a front ofce message queue.
These components were distributed across asingle set of hardware, as detailed below:

COMPUTER 1

FXL Front Ofce Interface,FX Flooder Application,
WMI Monitor Application

COMPUTER 2-12

FXL Back Ofce Interface

COMPUTER 13

Database server

Broadridge built the FX Source Flooder specifcallyfor these benchmark tests. The FX Source Flooder
was designed to send timed batches of front ofce
trades to a message queue for processing by theFXL Interface Engines.
Tests measured ongoing processor utilization andutilization spikes along with ongoing memory anddisk utilization across the hardware in addition totransaction time metrics.

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BROADRIDGE FXL PERFORMANCE BENCHMARK WHITE PAPER

Volume Tests
The baseline test for the high throughput of theFXL Back Ofce involved feeding a combination of12 FX and futures trades into the system throughthe FXL Interface Gateway per second. The baseline
test was designed to show that the system (runningon 1 server) could handle 1 million trades in a 24hour period with no duress or stress on the system.
The second phase of testing consisted of running
trade capture in parallel with the other processes,
ramping up from 1 to ultimately 11 back ofce
virtual servers.
The test system was pre-loaded with 100,000
customers and 1 million open trades composedof spot, forwards, swaps and futures in order tocreate a more true-to-life trading environment.
After successfully completing the baseline tests
representing typical trading activity, trading spikes
and other forms of duress were then added toprove that the architecture could fully process highvolumes of trade activity for extended periods oftime under real-world conditions.

A custom FX trade injector generated trades
and added them to the front ofce queue at 500
trades per second. The FXL Interface Gateway readmessages from the queue and validated the data,
updated the front ofce data model, and sent themto the FXL Back Ofce.
FXL Back Ofce services read messages from theback ofce queue and processed the messages
through the FXL workfow engine which validated
the data, applied standing settlement instructions,generated a SWIFT MT 300 confrmation for
FX trades and sent these to an external systemmessage queue and generated the full trademodel (trade details, confrmations, and paymentinformation) on the database. All data waspublished to FXL blotters, updating in real-time.

Client Positions
Updated(500 TPS)

Custom FX
Trade Injector

Front Ofce
Processing(500 TPS)
Back Ofce
Processing(450 TPS)

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External SWIFTGATEWAY(450 TPS)(MQ-based)

BROADRIDGE FXL PERFORMANCE BENCHMARK WHITE PAPER

Test Results – 450 Trades /11 Servers – Success

Based on the hardware in the test, 405,000 tradeswere processed in 15 minutes. This is a rate of 450
trades per second that were processed and had
SWIFT messages sent to an external system. FXL
processed, on average, 40.9 trades per second oneach of the 11 back ofce virtual servers used in
the test.

FXL successfully proved that the system is linearly
scalable across 11 back ofce servers. Concurrent
processing of confrmations and payments stayedcurrent as trades moved through the system.
Further, manual tasks, such as trade entry andtrade search from client applications were notafected by the continuous high-volume load
placed on the servers and database.

During the series of tests that FXL ran, Broadridge
was able to show linear scalability across application
servers. Additional server processing could be
utilized to increase throughput.

Trade Capture Transaction Throughput as Virtual Servers are Added
500
450
400
350
TPS300250200150
100
5001357911

Number of Servers

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BROADRIDGE FXL PERFORMANCE BENCHMARK WHITE PAPER

Hardware Specifcations
PHYSICAL SERVER HOSTS 1-3•••••Intel® Xeon 3.33 GHz x64
Dual Processor
12 cores per processor
60 GB RAM
15K RPM Hard Drive

VIRTUAL SERVER 1:• Intel® Xeon 3.33 GHz x64• 4 cores per processor• 8GB RAMVIRTUAL SERVERS 2-12:• Intel® Xeon 3.33 GHz x64• 4 cores per processor• 8GB RAMDATABASE SERVER•
••••
•
•

Intel® Xeon 3.33 GHz X64
Dual Processor
6 cores per processor
24 GB RAM
15K RPM Hard Drive
2 RAID controllers
6 x 30 GB SSD per controller

Software Specifcations
VIRTUAL SERVER 1:•••••FXL Front Ofce Interface
FX Flooder Application
WMI Monitor Application
Websphere MQ Server
Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition

VIRTUAL SERVERS 2-12:• FXL Back Ofce Interface• Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition

DATABASE SERVER• Windows Server 2003 R2 x64• SQL 2008 R2Conclusions
Broadridge set out to prove its FX back ofce
processing is linearly scalable. FXL showed this byincreasing the number of servers and achieving
the processing of 450 trades per second, running
the FXL system hosted on virtual application
servers at a level of 405,000 trades in a 15 minuteperiod, including concurrent requisite processing.
Broadridge FXL was able to successfully
demonstrate this level of activity in the statedamount of time at Intel’s® FasterLAB UK-basedfacilities.
These tests demonstrate that a Microsoft .NET
solution running on Intel® technology will
outperform traditional higher cost architectures.
The ability to scale horizontally by simply
confguring additional virtual application servers
as needed in an inexpensive and incredibly
fast process.
6

Additional servers were added while the system
was still processing activity. This further provesthat as client’s volume increases, expensive system
migration projects or upgrade eforts will not be
required with FXL. Just simply add additional
VM slices and improve throughput.
These performance benchmark results emphasize
FXL’s ability to consistently deliver realtime,high performance processing and to support FX
organizations with global, high-volume operations.
Broadridge will continue to partner with Intel® tocapture scalability metrics and to identify peak
performance capacity in order to continue todeliver the technology that the market demands.

BROADRIDGE FXL PERFORMANCE BENCHMARK WHITE PAPERFXL
FXL is an integrated, n-tier client-server
application based on Window’s .NET framework.
As the only new market entrant in more than 10years, FXL truly addresses today’s market needs
using the latest, state-of-the-art technology.
FXL is designed from the ground up to address
the key challenges faced by fnancial servicesorganizations today:• Global 24*7 trading and operations• Front-to-back Straight through Processing (STP)• Unattended end-of-day processing• Flexible and Confgurable Information Views• Cross-product processing• High-volume transaction support• Real-time distribution of information• State-of-the-art .NET technology• Multi-organization and multi-entity(MEMO) support• Workfow-based processing• Integrated automated testing to improve

software quality• InternationalizationFXL Key Features
Introducing a new processing platform into anorganization’s existing – and typically complex –technical infrastructure is difcult. Many of theissues that technologists face when selecting a
new system have to do with ensuring a smoothtransition, minimizing operational inefciencies andproviding tangible benefts for the business. FXL
addresses these issues by providing:• Seamless integration with existing systems:

FXL integrates smoothly with a diverse setof corporate support systems, regardlessof technology, data type and format, orcommunication requirements. The Interface

Engine is the gateway for all incoming andoutgoing data, linking FXL with internal andexternal systems. The Interface Engine ensuresdata integrity and consistency, and supports
high volumes of activity.
• Built-in support for global operations: FXL

is designed to facilitate operations for a globalorganization. This is a central feature of thesystem, and has specifcally determined theway data is organized, distributed, accessed andupdated. Company structures are defned usinga fexible N-tier hierarchical model, data security
is managed at an organizational level, and multiuser mechanisms ensure information integrity.
• Cross-product processing support: FXL isa multi-asset class transaction processing
system. Traders can view consolidated positions
information across all fnancial products,
improving productivity and enabling them tomake better decisions faster. Broadridge’s coredata model uses one set of tables to consistently
support all product types. Additional products
can be added to the system with minimal efort
and without compromising FXL’s ability to view
consolidated positions information, process
settlements and confrmations, and manage
accounting across all asset classes.
• High availability for business continuity:

FXL is designed to provide a high availability
environment. It supports a number of server
confgurations that automatically andtransparently provide business continuity
to users. Because FXL is built using industry
standard technology, it is also compatible witha number of ‘of-the-shelf’ business continuity
tools, including application server clusteringand hot-backups of the database to an ofsite
location. Redundant application servers can also
be confgured to run against backup databases.
• Customizable and extensible development

environment: The FXL Development Kit enables
organizations using FXL to create components
in-house to modify, replace or extend
application functionality.

7Contact us
For more information, please contact us at Broadridge FX & Liquidity Solutions+1 914 288 8200 | fxlsales@broadridge.com
About Broadridge FX & Liquidity Solutions
FXL ofers, global, workfow-based transaction processing software solutions
in FX, treasury cash management, limit monitoring, and order management
across multiple asset classes. FXL products enable real-time, high volume
trading–around the clock, and are used by leading fnancial services
organizations to improve speed and agility, enable better decision-making,reduce risk and drive down costs. Designed for quick implementation andintegration, FXL uses the latest technologies, including C# and Microsoft’s.NET framework, to ensure the highest levels of scalability and fexibility.

*Other brands may be claimed as the property of others
Performance tests and ratings are measured using specifc computer systems and/or components andrefect the approximate performance of Intel® products as measured by those tests. Any diferencein system hardware or software design or confguration may afect actual performance. Buyers should
consult other sources of information to evaluate the performance of systems or components they areconsidering purchasing. For more information on performance tests and on the performance of Intel
products, reference http://www.intel.com/performance/resources/benchmark_limitations.htm or call
(U.S.) +1 800 628 8686 or +1 916 356 3104.
This document is for informational purposes only. INTEL MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED ORIMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.
No part of this document may be distributed, reproduced or posted without the express written
permission of Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc.
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logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the UnitedStates and other countries.

© 2015 Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., Broadridge and the Broadridge

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