While news of Marketcetera's 1.5 release of its open source trading platform will certainly appeal to those working with financial-services specific software deployments, there's a neat little gem in this story that will make any open source software enthusiast smile. Marketcetera, the open source pioneer in the automated stock trading platform arena, has always had the advantage of fast deployments, infinite extensibility thanks to its built-in scripting engine and open nature, and impressive scalability -- and its 1.5 release builds on that foundation.

But claiming that a software platform is fast, scalable, and makes better use of the hardware it runs on is one thing -- proving it is another. Truth be told, different hardware configurations can yield slightly different results, and most companies don't have the time or resources to test software under controlled circumstances for any length of time.

Most companies, with the possible exception of Intel, with its labs in various locations for just this sort of purpose. Aside from the new features and enhancements Marketcetera users will experience in the 1.5 release, they can also rest assured that in testing conducted at Intel, Marketcetera performed on par with its proprietary competition. Thanks to community innovation and contribution, functionality and performance are continually increasing.