ECS is written in Java and is designed to leverage the benefits of a Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE^TM) application server. The modular, object-oriented design makes the system easy to extend and customize to meet business requirements. It is designed for 24x7 operation in the most performance-critical environments including STP and T+1.

The system supports open technology standards such as XML, SQL, and J2EE so that best-of-breed providers can be used to extend the system. In addition, care has been taken to support standards that bring real benefit to customers, such as FIX 4.2.

ECS is supported on various open platforms giving customers the ability to choose the best platform to meet their needs with the assurance that higher- or lower-performance platforms are available to suit their changing needs. Current operating systems supported include Sun Solaris^TM, Microsoft Windows^® 2000, HP Open VMS^TM, and IBM AIX^®. In addition, Linux^®, HP UX^TM, and other operating systems certifications can be made available based on customer requirements.