For less than $500 ($700 redundant/failover) you can build an ultra-low latency router/LAN network that will crush most hedge funds, prop shops and trading firms and most certainly equal many HFT shops.
****If you are lucky you probably already have an old PC or something you can repurpose and this whole project can be implemented for free or less than $100. I recommend a Dell because I use them for clients all the time and they are pretty cheap on eBay – I know that market… You can use any PC for this application so if you have a question as to whether or not yours will work please ask before you spend money!!****
Shopping List:
Dell Optiplex 745 or 755 SFF (Small-Form-Factor) with 2.0GB RAM and anything over 1.6ghz dual-core CPU on eBay – worst case $280, you should be able to pick one up with 2.3ghz or 2.8ghz CPU in the $160-$200 range.
Cisco Model: AIR-PI21AG-A-K9 (802.11G Wireless PCI adapter) $20 – eBay
1x Intel Pro 1000 **PT***Dual NIC LOW PROFILE $40-$90 – eBay (be patient and you’ll get it for $40)
Dell PowerConnect 2716 or 2724 Managed Gigabit Switch $70 – eBay
^^^ Single setup, dual-WAN capable with WiFi
FOR FULLY REDUNDANT SETUP JUST PURCHASE 2X OF THE ABOVE - $380 * 2 = $760 This will run two side-by-side machines (CARP via cross-connect cable) with failover time being less than 5 seconds. You can save money by assuming HDD or PSU will fail and purchase backups for individual components vs. whole machine – this will put you in the $500 range for a single machine with backup capacity.
If you need to be closer to a $500 price for fully redundant you can easily buy older machines (65nm tech CPU or 3.0ghz+ P4 CPU) with 2x Cisco AIR-PI21AG-A-K9 and dual-PCI Intel Gigabit NIC.
Download and install PfSense onto machine. This is open-source firewall/router combo and is an amazing solution compared to the highway robbery that people pay for off-the-shelf router/firewall combos today.
You would be suprised at the amount of NYSE order flow that passes through PfSense boxes every day - on the larger end of the spectrum you can pick up an old dual-socket (2x Xeon @ 3.0ghz+) server or machine for <$750. Rack 2-5 of these machines or rack 2 $1000 dual-Xeon 5400 series machines and you have redundancy, failover and capacity to handle any trading floor on the street.
As I posted in the home office thread - that Linksys RV0XX setup is or was recently used by most shops. This is going to be overkill and the only thing I can caution about is that power consumption may increase (your wife may yell at you over the power bill) because you may have a computer running at full throttle 24/7/365.
I am by no means an expert in Linux/Unix/Command-Line, etc. I simply use these things to chop clients' budgets in half and make them smile while I try to earn a living. There are very good resources, forums, solutions (paid and free) for PfSense as well as other solutions (m0n0wall) that will get you the same result - Ask questions and I'll attempt to answer but there are no secrets here. If something is over my head I'm happy to point you in the right direction - I may be better at Google than you :)
