An interesting overview of the internals at Betfair

As well as trading I also write software for a living.

If you use an API at a betting exchange its always worth while understanding how they have put it together.

You can get a very good over view of the betfair exchange at this address

There is a lot of detail here but at the very least it should make you curse less when the exchange is slow because you will understand the unique challenges they face.