Steadfast Launches Time Synchronization Service to Assist Trading Broker-Dealer and Firm Compliance with SEC Rule 613 CAT NMS

Chicago, IL, June 16, 2020 --(PR.com)-- Steadfast, a cloud and managed infrastructure company with more than 20 years of hosting financial service organizations, has launched a new time-synchronization-as-a-service (TSaaS) that provides the infrastructure, software, and GPS/GNSS antenna systems to perform accurate timestamping in accordance with SEC 613 Rule CAT NMS requirements.

What is the SEC Rule 613 CAT?

To protect the integrity and precision of trading broker-dealers and firms, the SEC adopted Rule 613 to create a Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) repository intended to allow regulators to monitor activity in National Market System (NMS) securities throughout US markets. This rule calls for accurate clock synchronization and timestamping of automated order events, at a minimum, to within 50 milliseconds for FINRA Industry Members and 100 microseconds for FINRA Participants, forensically traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) time standard. Complex deviation measurements and clock chain integrity maintenance of such synchronization, by logging the offset and unbroken traceability on every synchronization event on any trading application server, must be recorded and reported to CAT for proof of compliance or risk the possibility of costly penalties, including trading suspension.

“This rule can be a real concern for many trading firms that do not have the time server appliances, rooftop GPS/GNSS antenna systems, time synchronization and compliance software, or other tools to meet the timestamping accuracy requirements,” said Tim Monner, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Steadfast. “Building a proprietary solution can cost these firms significant investments in both time and financial capital.”

The Steadfast Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service (TSaaS) Alternative

Steadfast, using technology from FSMTime, an industry leader in clock sync products and services, has built a simpler approach. Combining existing world-class, audited data centers from Steadfast with FSMTime TimeKeeper® software options, the Steadfast Time-Synchronization-as-a-Service (TSaaS) solution enables financial brokers and traders to quickly and cost-effectively deploy and maintain an accurate time system as a simple monthly operating expense.

“The simplicity of this solution is that Steadfast already has all the infrastructure, GNSS-sourced grandmaster clocks, and managed service and support available now,” said Nino De Falcis, EVP, Sales and Marketing at FSMTime. “By layering our TimeKeeper® on top of their infrastructure services, traders and broker-dealers essentially now have a complete turnkey solution that can easily assist with the CAT business clock requirements.”

Review Your Options

Not sure if the Steadfast TSaaS solution would be a good fit for your organization? Take a few seconds to request a 20-minute discovery call with our team to review your options.

About Steadfast

We make IT work, so you can take care of business. Specialists in Cloud Consulting, Engineering and Hosting for over 20 years, we offer customized services at all stages of design and deployment to maintenance and expansion planning. As an extension of your team, our goal is to ease technology constraints, making your life easier so you can Strengthen Your Focus on your core business. Visit Steadfast at www.steadfast.net.

About FSMLabs/FSMTime and TimeKeeper

The leading financial trading firms in the world, ranging from ICE to Virtu Financial and firms in many other industries, depend on TimeKeeper for precise time and industry’s best TimeCare support. FSMTime (FSMLabs), develops, markets, supports TimeKeeper Active Client, Server, and Compliance software and TimeKeeper Grandmasters. TimeKeeper works on Linux, Windows and Solaris. TimeKeeper, TimeCare, FSMLabs, and FSMTime are trademarks of Finite State Machine Labs Inc. Visit FSMTime at www.fsmtime.com.