Almost all CME-CBOT clearing firms currently make use of our ability to print reports directly to the firm's back-office printers, or to queues which feed firm back-office printers.  This capability is called "direct printing" or "VPS printing."  All such reports are fixed-space – ie, they are not proportionally-spaced, and almost all have a maximum line length of 132 bytes.

Around April 1st of 2005, we will expand most of these reports, so that they have a maximum line length of 151 bytes.  This is an important part of a broader effort which will lead to the introduction during the second quarter of next year, of clearing product codes which are larger than two bytes.

To ensure that these dates can be met, we will begin converting firms to 151-byte direct printing immediately, and we have set Friday March 18th, 2005, as the deadline by which all firms must be converted.

If firms are having reports directly printed to laser printers or other printers already capable of handling 151 bytes, the conversion is a simple matter of switching the reports from "portrait" to "landscape" format.  Many firms, who are having reports routed to a print queue, will need to ensure that their queue can handle 151-byte reports.  And any firms which are using old impact printers which cannot handle more than 132-byte records will need to obtain new hardware.

To minimize the work involved in this conversion, firms will be able to convert at any time they are ready, starting this Friday December 17th, with only a few days' notice for each firm.  And we will work with each firm to resolve any issues associated with the conversion and allow you to verify that the converted reports print correctly and readably.

For more information please contact the CME Clearing House at 312-207-2525.