ANALYSIS - NYSE eyes high-speed future with past in tow

By Jonathan Spicer

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The current keepers of the New York Stock Exchange are betting a raft of changes, from new furniture on the trading floor to a virtual trading platform that spans continents, will keep the company among the world leaders as markets increasingly go electronic.

NYSE Euronext, which runs the Big Board and several other venues in the United States and Europe, has asked for patience while it works out the kinks of the trans-Atlantic merger that formed the company and myriad smaller deals, insisting that pain this year will more than pay off in 2010.

There have been bouts of indigestion since NYSE's blockbuster takeover of Euronext in 2007, with costs at times ballooning and some observers confused over management's long-term strategy for integrating what appears to be a half-dozen separate businesses.

Now, more than halfway through what NYSE Euronext telegraphed as a tough year, the bigger picture is emerging.

The question is whether the company can deliver on projects, some of which have shovels in the ground, meant to balance tradition and innovation in a cut-throat industry where giant exchanges are under constant siege from younger rivals.

Since former Chief Executive John Thain signed the $14 billion Euronext deal, "a lot was expected but not a lot was delivered," said Richard Repetto, an analyst at Sandler O'Neill. "The last two quarters we're starting to see delivery."

Duncan Niederauer, who succeeded Thain, said on a conference call last week, "We really do believe with all of these investments we are building the marketplace of the future."

That marketplace will apparently include the neoclassic building erected between 1901 and 1903, when it opened with marble walls, gilt ceilings and massive columns at the corner of Broad and Wall Streets in downtown Manhattan.