Nasdaq OMX and NYSE Euronext are both planning to launch microwave connections between New York and Chicago this year to allow traders to reduce the time it takes trading firms to access data.

Ian Jack, vice president of global infrastructure at NYSE Technologies, told Financial News: "Using a microwave network can shave a number of milliseconds off access to third party content, although the specific benefits of this depend on a firm's own trading strategies and how they choose to use that data."