Lankford grew up in farmland Nebraska, where his father was a biochemist and his mother taught music.

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To buff STAC's impartial image, Lankford and crew roam industry events in white lab coats.

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Enter Peter Lankford, founder of STAC (Securities Technology Analysis Center), in Warrenville, Ill.

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Mr Lankford vividly paints the picture in nearby Cape Clear, an inhabited island five miles north-east of Fastnet.

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"We're measuring the zero-to-60 speed but also the gas mileage, " says Lankford.

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Lankford even tests the way systems react after sudden shutdowns and reboots, so clients know what to expect--and what data might get lost.

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Then Lankford heard through the grapevine that Hewlett-Packard had landed a big contract to supply a New York investment bank with servers and other trading hardware.

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Lankford further ingratiated himself with clients by forming the STAC Council, where banks and traders would all get a say in how performance would be measured.

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In 2005 Lankford ditched a comfortable salary, hired away an engineer from Reuters and went hunting for consulting gigs optimizing speed performance for trading firms and hardware vendors.

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Lankford would return to U. of C. for an M.

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"We are a very close-knit community and when news of the shooting spread through our town, everyone wanted to help, " said Mary Lankford, who taught Chapa at Sinton High School.

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