Rob McCormick, chief executive of network provider Savvis, says: "In the financial sector, the internet protocol is clearly becoming the protocol that everyone wants to use. It is the only means of connectivity that satisfies today's cost drivers and application and access needs."

In many ways McCormick's ebullience is well placed. In the last few years economic and other realities have driven financial services firms to seek alternative means to connect to each other. Private networks, while offering perhaps the ultimate security and performance guarantees, are expensive and take a long time to build. The public internet, at the opposite end of the spectrum, offers the cheapest option and the greatest reach but still fails to persuade financial services firms that it is secure or reliable enough to serve as the backbone for the industry's circulatory system.