Australia's government officially granted a license to Chi-X in May for the launch of a trading platform in the country, finally busting the monopoly long enjoyed by the ASX.

To deal with the resultant fragmentation, the Australian operator has enlisted Fidessa to help build the ASX Best smart order routing application, slated to launch late this year.

It will provide connectivity to all of the country's 'lit' venues, as well as 'dark' ones such as ASX's VolumeMatch, enabling participants to meet best execution obligations. Users will also be able to control the priority of venues to which orders are routed and direct to specific places.

The router will be co-located in a new ASX data centre due to be commissioned later this year and distributed to users around the country via ASX Net, its high capacity fibre network.

David Raper, GM, trade execution and information services, ASX, says: "ASX is working hard to provide solutions to the technical, regulatory and operational challenges faced by participants and their clients in Australia's migration to a multi-market environment later in 2011. ASX Best and ASX Net are examples of offerings that allow participants to access liquidity and market information across multiple venues, not just from those venues operated by ASX."

Fidessa is using the deal to accelerate its push into the Australian market, setting up a presence in the country to support the implementation of its software and technology infrastructure.

Steve Grob, director, group strategy, Fidessa, says: "We have been looking at the Australian market for some time and have already been successful in signing a number of clients for our enterprise solutions in the region."