Auckland based network monitoring technology provider, Endace, has added a feature to its DAG data capture cards that enables recorded network traffic to be enriched with information about the state of the environment at the time the traffic was recorded —including detailed real-time information about timing sources and accuracy.
Endace says the new feature, dubbed Provenance, is needed to enable traders to comply with European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) upcoming Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID-II) regulations that will require traders to record all trade data and ensure trade events are accurately time-stamped to within microseconds of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) along with information about the reliability of the timing source.
“Being able to perpetually describe the accuracy of time stamps means continually monitoring and recording timing accuracy as trade data is captured,” Endace says. “Provenance provides a way for traders to capture contextual information at the source, helping them to comply with regulations easily.”
Endace CTO, Dr Stephen Donnelly said applications for Provenance went well beyond MiFID-II, but it’s release had been accelerated to meet that immediate requirement. “We saw an immediate application for Provenance to deliver a simple, effective way to enable traders to meet their obligations under MiFID-II and related regulations. So we accelerated plans to introduce Provenance to give traders time to test and implement it ahead of MiFID-II.”
MiFID-II regulations are scheduled to be enshrined in the law of member states by 3 July 2017 and to apply across all member states from 3 January 2018.
According to Endace, Provenance ‘watermarks’ traffic every second as it is captured, enriching it with information that includes the timing source used, how clocks were synchronised (using PTP, 1PPS or IRIG-B) and the clock synchronisation accuracy was at the time of capture. This, it says, allows traders to prove exactly what the status and accuracy of clocks and time stamps were at the time trade data was captured.”
“Currently, more than 150 fields of Provenance data such as hostname, link name and optical power level can be included,” Endace says. “This makes it simple for traders to accurately determine the origin of capture files and provides a clear evidential trail that can be easily examined in packet analysis tools, such as Wireshark.”
Provenance support is available as a firmware upgrade for Endace’s two port 1/10 GbE DAG10X2-S and DAG10X2-P cards and four port 1/10/40GbE DAG 10X4-P card. The company says it will be rolled out across all Endace products, and will be introduced in EndaceProbe network recorders in the new 6.3 release of OSm scheduled to ship early in 2017.