Abstract: A system and method for data compression using compression hardware is disclosed. In accordance with the method, a data set in a data stream is received. The data set includes a set of data descriptor fields. The data set is portioned into one or more data subsets using the set of data descriptor fields. One or more tabular slices and an index are generated for at least one of the data subsets using the set of data descriptor fields. The one or more tabular slices are identified by the index. The one or more tabular slices are compressed into a compressed data block by a data compression scheme using a hardware compressor. A compression data file is generated in a database. The compression data file has a header that stores information about the data compression scheme. The compressed data block is stored in the compression data file.

Abstract: A real-time financial search engine retrieves financial updates in real-time. A condensation memory in the real-time financial search engine stores financial data in a compacted space that allows computation of a smaller set of numbers. Real-time feed is converted into a two-dimensional (X, Y) location code for placement on a linear location code array of a security symbol. A single number of a location code efficiently represents (time, price) or (time, volume) in a 2D coordinate plane for real-time search of financial data.