By consolidation, he means the Consolidated Tape Association which takes feeds from all exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX, etc) and puts out a single consolidated feed that most non-HFT entities use because its good enough.
They get their data from NYSE from apparently an aggregate feed, which was unintentionally delayed by NYSE. In my opinion, they should have been getting the direct feed and doing all consolidation themselves.
However, HFT firms will still have a vested interest in making more efficient aggregate feeds than the consolidators/exchanges.
Maybe I misunderstood, but it seems like they're saying that's not the case:
FTA: "First, we had to rule out the possibility of the delay being caused by the consolidation process (which people often erroneously point out)."