Linux the OS of choice for demanding financial applications
Both banks and exchanges rely more and more on Linux to power their most demanding applications, like high-frequency trading and trade matching.
As an alternative to traditional Unix, Linux has become a dominant player in finance, thanks to the operating-system kernel’s ability to pass messages very quickly, Lameter said in an interview with IDG. In fact, the emerging field of high-frequency trading (HFT) would not be possible without the open-source operating system, he argued
Key drivers for this predominance are speed (kernel messaging performance specifically) and the fact that it is open source, so that financial institutions can tweak it even further to meet their needs.
This account certainly matches the evolution we’ve seen. Whereas Linux was confined to a small niche previously, more and more applications (even back-office ones) are migrating onto it or at least investigating such a move.
