KCBP/KCXP and HARE: The Evolution of Kingdom’s Dual-Speed Financial Network Architecture

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From centralized securities trading middleware in the early 2000s to microsecond-level cloud-native infrastructure today, Kingdom Technology (金证) did not choose a complete replacement strategy. Instead, it created a unique “dual-speed architecture” where stable legacy infrastructure and ultra-low-latency systems coexist.

1. The Beginning: The Centralized Trading Era

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At the beginning of the 21st century, China’s securities industry experienced one of the largest IT transformations:

The transition from branch-based trading systems to nationwide centralized trading platforms.

Before centralization:

Broker Branch

├── Local Trading Server
├── Local Database
└── Local Settlement System

After centralization:

Thousands of Branches

  |

Central Trading Platform

  |

Core Database System

This transformation introduced several technical challenges:

• Massive concurrent transaction processing
• Nationwide client access
• High availability requirements
• Distributed network communication
• Heterogeneous hardware environments

The traditional two-tier architecture:

Client

|

Database

was no longer sufficient.

The financial industry entered the middleware era:

Client

|

Middleware

|

Application Logic

|

Database

2. Kingdom’s Answer: The KCXP + KCBP Architecture

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Around 2001, Kingdom Technology introduced a four-layer architecture:

Client

|

KCXP
Communication Middleware

|

KCBP
Transaction Middleware

|

Database

This architecture became one of the foundations of China’s centralized securities trading systems.

3. KCXP: The Communication Backbone

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KCXP (Kingdom Communication Exchange Platform)

was designed as a financial messaging middleware platform.

Its primary mission:

Connecting different applications, networks, and computing platforms reliably.

KCXP provided:

• Message transmission
• Network communication management
• Protocol adaptation
• System integration capability
• High availability communication

Conceptually:

Trading Terminal

|

KCXP

|

Multiple Applications

|

Core Trading Services

KCXP acted like a financial “highway”:

• Applications did not communicate directly.
• Messages were routed through a controlled communication layer.
• Network complexity was hidden from business applications.

4. KCBP: The Transaction Processing Engine

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KCBP (Kingdom Core Business Platform)

was designed as a high-performance transaction middleware.

Its responsibilities included:

• Transaction management
• Database connection management
• Service execution
• Business component runtime
• Resource scheduling

Architecture:

Business Module

|

KCBP Runtime

|

Database Connection Layer

|

Oracle / DB2 / SQL Server

The key idea:

Business applications should not directly depend on databases.

Middleware became the execution layer between business logic and data storage.

5. The IOE Era: Enterprise Financial Architecture

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During this period, financial institutions typically adopted the classic IOE architecture:

IBM Servers

*

Oracle / DB2 Database

*

EMC Storage

*

Middleware Platform

The architecture philosophy was:

• Centralized processing
• Strong consistency
• Enterprise reliability
• Hardware redundancy

For financial institutions:

Reliability was more important than architectural elegance.

6. Why KCXP/KCBP Survived for More Than 20 Years

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Many middleware platforms disappeared after technology generations changed.

KCXP/KCBP survived because financial systems have unique requirements.

6.1 Stability First

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A securities trading system requires:

High Availability

*

Transaction Consistency

*

Zero Data Loss

Unlike Internet applications:

Move fast and break things

financial systems follow:

Never break critical transactions.

6.2 Heterogeneous Platform Support

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Early securities firms operated extremely diverse environments:

Operating Systems:

Unix
Linux
Windows

Databases:

Oracle
DB2
SQL Server

Hardware:

IBM Mainframe
Unix Servers
x86 Servers

Cross-platform capability became a major competitive advantage.

7. The New Challenge: The Microsecond Era

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After 2015, financial services changed dramatically.

New requirements appeared:

• Algorithmic trading
• Quantitative trading
• Real-time risk control
• High-frequency market data
• Ultra-fast order processing

The performance target changed from:

Milliseconds

to:

Microseconds

Traditional architecture:

Client

|

KCXP

|

KCBP

|

Database

was extremely reliable.

However:

• Too many network hops
• Serialization overhead
• Database dependency
• Higher latency

A new generation of infrastructure was required.

8. Kingdom’s Strategy: Evolution Instead of Replacement

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Kingdom did not replace KCXP/KCBP.

Instead:

KCXP/KCBP

HARE

KOCA Platform

became the new architecture model.

This created what can be called:

Dual-Speed Financial Network Architecture.

9. HARE: The Ultra-Low-Latency Messaging Platform

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HARE is Kingdom’s next-generation high-performance messaging infrastructure.

Its design targets:

• Distributed computing
• Low latency trading
• Real-time financial applications

Technical characteristics:

• Publish/Subscribe messaging model
• UDP/TCP/IPC communication
• Agentless architecture
• RDMA acceleration support
• Zero-copy optimization
• NUMA-aware computing

Architecture:

graph LR

A[Trading Service A]

A --> H[HARE High Speed Message Bus]

H --> B[Trading Service B]

H --> C[Risk Control]

H --> D[Market Data System]

HARE focuses on:

Speed

+

Scalability

+

Real-time communication

10. The Formation of the Dual-Speed Network

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The final architecture became:

graph TD

A[Financial Applications]

A --> B[Stable Business]

A --> C[Fast-Changing Business]


B --> D[KCXP/KCBP]

C --> E[HARE/KOCA-LDP]


D --> F[Core Trading Settlement Account]

E --> G[Algorithm Trading Risk Engine Market Data]

11. What Is the Dual-Speed Architecture?

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Stable Layer

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Technology:

KCXP

+

KCBP

Used for:

• Core trading
• Settlement
• Account management
• Fund processing

Characteristics:

Fast Innovation Layer

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Technology:

HARE

+

KOCA-LDP

Used for:

• Quant trading
• Real-time risk
• Market data distribution
• New financial products

Characteristics:

12. FS2.5: Dual-Speed Architecture in Securities Trading

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Kingdom’s FS2.5 platform applies this philosophy:

Stable Core + Agile Extension

Architecture:

              FS2.5


        Stable Core

             |

        KCXP/KCBP


             +

             
        Agile Extension

             |

        HARE/KOCA-LDP

Core trading remains:

Stable
Reliable
Predictable

while innovative services become:

Flexible
Fast
Extensible

13. A8: Dual-Speed Architecture in Asset Management

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The same idea appears in Kingdom’s A8 investment trading platform.

Architecture concept:

Agile Middle Platform

+

Stable Core Engine

Agile components:

• Instruction management
• Compliance engine
• Risk management
• Business innovation

Stable components:

• Order processing
• Asset center
• Settlement core

14. Comparison with Hundsun’s Evolution Path

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Hundsun followed a more revolutionary architecture path:

AR/AS

  |

CRES

  |

Light-JRES

Characteristics:

• Continuous redesign
• New architecture replacing old generations
• Strong architectural modernization

Kingdom followed another philosophy:

KCXP/KCBP

       +

HARE

       |

KOCA

Characteristics:

• Preserve proven infrastructure
• Introduce new capabilities
• Gradual evolution

15. Two Different Financial IT Philosophies

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16. Lessons from Financial Architecture Evolution

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Financial systems are fundamentally different from Internet applications.

Internet:

Rapid iteration

Rapid replacement

Financial systems:

Continuous operation

Controlled evolution

The best architecture is not always the newest architecture.

It is the architecture that balances:

• Risk
• Cost
• Performance
• Long-term maintainability

Conclusion: From KCXP to HARE, A 25-Year Architecture Journey

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In 2001:

KCXP/KCBP solved:

How to build nationwide centralized securities trading systems.

After 2020:

HARE/KOCA solved:

How to achieve microsecond-level financial infrastructure.

They are not competitors.

They represent two different speeds:

Twenty years of stability

          +

Future-oriented performance

          |

Dual-Speed Financial Architecture

The story of KCXP/KCBP and HARE demonstrates an important principle in financial technology:

The most successful architecture is not the one that destroys the past, but the one that allows the past and future to operate together.

Keywords:

KCBP

KCXP

HARE

KOCA

FS2.5

A8

Financial Middleware

Securities Trading System

China Financial IT History