Tibco unveils 'lightning fast' software messaging system

Business software firm Tibco has unveiled a software messaging system dubbed Faster Than Light (FTL) that it claims can send and receive information within nanoseconds.

The new system was designed to meet the needs of sectors such as banking and trading. By reducing the time it takes for information to be sent and received between applications it could offer a significant competitive advantage, said Tibco.

The vendor's executive vice president, Ram Menon, told V3.co.uk that it had recorded data transfer speeds between applications on the FTL platform on a single server of 384 nanoseconds and between servers of 3.1 microseconds.

"This is very important as it means the time it takes for applications to send data back to the user, which will ultimately help decide if and when to make a trade, for example, is reduced, gives them a clear advantage over their rivals," he added.

"Things are moving really fast in these industries and we realised that, as one of the main companies in this space, we needed to develop a new system that would offer a complete shift in what was available."

Menon explained that FTL benefits from two major developments in messaging. Firstly the rise of 10GB network connections that enable data to be sent between locations incredibly quickly.

Secondly, the development of 64 multi-core server processors by Intel means multiple applications can be hosted on single servers, enabling businesses to take advantage of the enhanced speeds as well as reducing physical hardware requirements.

Tibco worked with Intel directly to optimise the product for this technology.

The firm has also embedded its Context Based Addressing system technology into the FTL software so that application developers don't have to add code to apps in order to ensure speeds remain fast throughout.

FTL will be upgradeable from existing Tibco messaging systems, such as Rendezvous, and is compatible with all existing applications to ensure a seamless upgrade process, Menon claimed.

Pricing is based on a per application policy.