Nasdaq is rolling out big changes to its data business in a move that will piece together its alt-data acquisition and public-cloud developments.
The New York-based exchange is launching a new data and analytics hub, called Nasdaq Data Link, that is "the next evolution of the data business," Oliver Albers, senior vice president and head of data for Nasdaq's Investment Intelligence unit, told Insider.
The new system, unveiled Wednesday, brings together more than 250 proprietary and third-party datasets. It also builds on Nasdaq's 2018 acquisition of alt-data firm Quandl and its cloud-based real-time data service launched in April 2020.
Data Link is Nasdaq's one-stop shop for users, such as asset managers and banks, to easily access Nasdaq's suite of datasets, which range from free market data to premium alternative datasets. Customers can discover, manage, and integrate new data sources within Data Link, which is built off of Quandl's underlying cloud-based technology.
"I've kind of seen the evolution of what was required for people to consume data in those early days where you would have to connect to a market-data vendor, or directly to the exchange ecosystem or to a global telecommunications provider, like Verizon, set up all sorts of network infrastructures, set up feed handlers, buy a lot of hardware," said Albers, who has been in the data business since 2000.
That process used to take between three and six months before someone could actually consume the data they wanted, Albers said. With the application programming interface (API) technology and the public cloud, that's been shaved down to a matter of hours or days, he said.
APIs and cloud tech speed data integrations
It's been a "long-term vision" to bring Quandl's cloud-based architecture and experience to Nasdaq's global portfolio of datasets, according to Bill Dague, Nasdaq's head of alternative data.
Data Link also integrates Nasdaq Cloud Data Services, which gives firms real-time access to Nasdaq's exchange, fund, and index data via APIs.
Like Quandl and Nasdaq Cloud Data Services, Data Link will also be hosted on AWS, the exchange said.
Nasdaq's embrace of the cloud comes as some of its largest and oldest clients are beginning to shift from on-premise storage to the cloud. Buy-side firms like Point72 and Millennium are investing heavily in the space.
"We've heard from a lot of our historical customers that they have an API-only strategy going forward," Albers said.
The goal is to eventually extend Data Link's analytics and storage capabilities into something clients can use to upload their own data, which Dague referred to as "data-ingestion-as-a-service."
"There is a long tail of adopters who are just getting started on this journey," Dague said. "We are hoping to become more of a one-stop shop."
As massive data budgets become table stakes for the buy-side, Albers and Dague believe even the most technology-resistant firms will realize how important the storage, ingestion, and ease-of-access of the data is.
"Data is everyone's biggest asset and everyone's biggest opportunity right now," said Albers.
"But it's also their biggest problem."
