The Montréal Automated System (SAM) maximizes performance, reliability and scalability using SOLA®, a leading edge proprietary trading technology developed by the Montréal Exchange. The Montréal Exchange (MX) completed the technological overhaul of its trading platform with the implementation of the SOLA® Trading Engine in September 2005 and the SOLA® Routing Engine in June 2006. To accommodate independent software vendors (ISVs) and approved participants who want to connect their own front-end trading applications to SAM, the MX offers an open platform. For order management applications, the following options are available: SAIL - SOLA® Access Information Language is the native protocol for SOLA®, offering functionalities required by both order flow providers and market makers. Industry Standard Protocols - FIX and STAMP are available for connection of order flow providers. Other MX connections available for ISVs, approved participants and data vendors include: HSVF - High Speed Vendor Feed for access to the Montréal Exchange's real-time trading and statistical information (comprised of trades, quotes, market depth, strategies, bulletins, summaries and other statistics). ATR - Automated trade reporting for a real-time feed of trades by approved participants. Clearing API - An API for approved participants and clearing firms to develop their own software to communicate with the MX Clearing Access Services gateway for post-trade allocations.

• Choose from the range of available access services: Please contact samconnect@m-x.ca with your contact details and an indication of the type of connectivity you desire. An MX representative will contact you to answer any questions and review the available options related to your specific connection requirements.
• Receive the technical information: Your connectivity coordinator will e-mail the specifications, developers' guides, business design guides and other documentation that are designed to facilitate your development, connectivity and testing. Questions regarding the documentation can be addressed directly to your connectivity coordinator or to samconnect@m-x.ca.
• Connectivity/telecom: To obtain access to the production environment, the following connections are available:
 
• Direct connection: A direct connection can be made to one or more of the Montréal Exchange's Points of Presence (POPs). Physical connectivity to the production network is provided by a 10/100/1000mb Ethernet connection. The client is responsible for sypplying the appropriate telecommunications lines and router at the POP.
• Third party network providers: Montréal Exchange connectivity can be obtained via the SAVVIS, RADIANZ, YIPES and SFTI-SIAC networks.
• LAN-to-LAN VPN connections: Typically the VPN connections are setup in tunnel mode between the client's router/firewall and Montréal Exchange's VPN routers. Traffic between the client's internal hosts and MX's hosts will then pass over the established VPN tunnel.
• Your connectivity coordinator will provide you with any necessary user IDs, passwords and IP addresses. For any telecom-related questions, including ordering telecom lines for both development and production, please e-mail MX at samconnect@m-x.ca or contact your connectivity coordinator.
  
• Development support and testing: Montréal Exchange's development environment will be generally made available for testing from Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Montréal Time, Eastern Daylight or Eastern Standard Time, as applicable). Before testing, please contact samconnect@m-x.ca to confirm the availability of the system. The Montréal Exchange reserves itself the right to deny access to the development systems for any reason at any time without notice. For support during your development and testing phase, please contact your connectivity coordinator or e-mail to samconnect@m-x.ca.
• Certification: External applications using SAIL, Industry Standard Protocols for order routing, or the Clearing API will require certification prior to activation of the production connection. Your connectivity coordinator will be pleased to provide you with required test cases and support during this phase. When you are ready to certify, please contact your connectivity coordinator or send an e-mail to samconnect@m-x.ca to schedule an appointment.
  NOTE: Connections to data feeds from the Montréal Exchange (HSVF, ATR) do not require certification prior to connection to the production environment.
• Access to the production environment: Before requesting access to the Montréal Exchange's production environment, the following steps are prerequisites:
 
• Montréal Exchange's approved participant status has been granted.
• Certification of any applications requiring certification has been granted.
• Telecom connectivity to the Montréal Exchange's production environment has been established. (Please contact samconnect@m-x.ca for production connectivity options.)
• For the purposes of going into production, all firms must contact samconnect@m-x.ca at least one week before the desired go live date.


• Post-implementation support: Trading support after implementation is provided by Market Monitoring at 1-888-693-6366 or 514 871-7871. Technical support after implementation is provided by the Technical Help Desk at 1-877-588-8489 or 514 871-7872.