[apaprocki]

Bloomberg also offers a comprehensive market data product that isn't just a firehose from the exchange. Lots of work went into normalizing the data stream so that consumers of the stream wouldn't have to learn the oddities of hundreds of different market feeds. The latency is actively monitored (in microseconds) and they offer direct co-lo as well.

http://www.bloomberg.com/enterprise/data_solutions/market_da...

I agree though, even if you have the best algo around, it could fall flat on its face unless you have the pockets to be side-by-side with the big shops.

These places are especially paranoid when it comes to co-lo. I've heard that exchanges guarantee that all the boxes are given the same exact length of network cable to remove any chance that shorter length favors one shop or another.