ASX taps VMware for virtualisation, infrastructure in giant rebuild

The Australian Securities Exchange has named incumbent virtualisation provider VMware as the infrastructure base to replace its CHESS core settlements system, trumpeting a new agreement it says will boost mutual customer access as its new blockchain platform rolls out. The memorandum of understanding , which ropes in the ASX, VMware and developer Digital Asset (in which which the ASX has an equity stake), essentially gives the ASX’s many participants like broking houses and institutional banks, better infrastructure standardisation visibility over the new solution. Based on Digital Asset’s open source smart contract language called DAML, the ASX’s CHESS replacement is a key foundation in building out a much bigger distributed ledger play across complex, multiparty transactions that can range from property conveyancing to bonds and other  instruments.