CameronFAST

CameronFAST is a product offered by Orc Software to handle messages that use the FAST standard protocol. The FAST standard is a standard for connectivity created by the FPL (FIX Protocol Ltd) for streaming data. FAST-encoded-FIX delivers smaller transaction messages and faster execution, and lowers the cost of exchanging market data. 
CameronFAST is an open architecture framework enabling ease of integration with other applications. It is delivered with useful sample FAST examples built using the framework. These are the FASTEncoder, FASTDecoder and FIXFASTProxy. CameronFAST works equally well with any FIX or non-FIX application.
FAST was developed by the FIX Protocol Limited organization to bring the benefits of standardization to market data and deliver optimized performance for the exchange of electronic financial information. 
Built around a data compression algorithm, when it is correctly implemented, it significantly reduces bandwidth requirements and latency between sender and receiver. FAST works particularly well at improving performance during periods of peak message rates.
CameronFAST Features:
*Complete FAST 1.1 compliance, including full XML template support. 
*Open architecture for easy integration with in-house applications. 
*It works equally well with any FIX or non FIX application. 
*Standard out of the box working utilities built using the CameronFAST classes. Each utility comes with full source code, serving as real world examples of how to use the CameronFAST classes. 
*Existing Orc solutions such as Orc Trader, Orc Liquidator, CameronFIX Universal Server and CameronFIX Market Data Server, can be CameronFAST-enabled by deeply integrating it within their core architecture. All Orc applications will be internally optimized for FAST by Q4. 
*Powerful analysis capability. FAST encoded data is highly compressed binary format. This is ideal for high speed communication between computers but it is not easily understood by people. CameronFAST provides a powerful ‘analysis’ capability which analyzes the FAST binary encoding and displays, in a clear readable format, exactly how the encoding was performed. This is useful for understanding the workings of FAST. It is indispensable for diagnosing problems when connecting with a faulty or non standard implementation of FAST. 
*Pluggable template selection logic. The FAST standard does not specify how to decide which template should be selected to encode a given message. CameronFAST supplies a default template selection “policy” which is suitable for most users needs. Flexibility for plugging in your own template selection logic is provided. 
*Pluggable clear logic. CameronFAST provides a simple default clear“ policy” which allows you to specify that dictionaries (records of previous values – i.e. FAST “memory”) are cleared after message or block of messages (if blocking is used). Alternately, you can specify that dictionaries are only cleared at the beginning of a communication session. This should be suitable for most user needs. Flexibility for plugging in your own template selection logic is provided. 
*Pluggable blocking logic. The CameronFAST default is non-blocked messages. However, any blocking logic may be added to determine exactly how and when multiple messages should be combined into a standard FAST block. 
*Fully compatible with the new CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) FAST Market Data Format. Orc Software is an official participant in the CME Market Data Format FIX/FAST Beta Program. 
*FAST Integration with CameronFIX
*CameronFIX Market Data Server and CameronFIX Universal Server connecting to CameronFIX and non-CameronFIX counter-parties utilize both FAST and non-FAST sessions.
== References ==
Category:ORC Software Category:Trading Technology‏‎