Making its next step in the race among data center service providers to deliver low-latency connectivity to the financial markets, global giant Equinix has connected two of its New Jersey data centers directly to five major carrier hotels in New York City.

Lexent Metro Connect built dark fiber between the pair of Equinix's International Business Exchanges in Secaucus, N.J. and carrier hotels at 60 Hudson St., 32 Avenue of the America, 75 Broad St. and 111 Eighth Ave. - all addresses on New York's Manhattan island, heart of the nation's finance industry.

Lexent's new dark fiber route follows the shortest distance between the two New Jersey data centers and Manhattan across the Hudson River, providing route latency of less than 100 microseconds, according to an Equinix statement.

Besides connectivity to the aforementioned carrier hotels, Equinix customers in New Jersey will have connectivity to more than 100 buildings connected to the Lexent network.

"Latency is arguably one of the most important factors driving financial firms' metro network decisions today," Lexent President and CEO Ray La Chance said in a statement. "We have seen a surge in financial firms requesting private dark fiber solutions utilizing shorter optical routes, and with no mid-span equipment."

Other major players in the data center market serving the financial industry include Savvis, Telx and Switch and Data. Equinix announced an agreement to buy Switch and Data for $689 million in October.

Savvis has recently suffered loss of a major client, the American Stock Exchange, which was bought by NYSE Euronext. The exchange departed Savvis facilities during the last quarter.

A major recent step forward for Savvis, however, was the decision by Thomson Reuters (a major player in services to the finance industry) to locate infrastructure for its hosting solution for financial trading firms at six Savvis data centers.

Savvis announced the deal in early October and a company official said in an interview with DatacenterDynamics that TR infrastructure would attract other players in the space to Savvis facilities for low-latency connectivity with the "800-pound gorilla in the market."