http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/081707-gamerail.html?nlhtl=0827lanalert1&
A Missouri startup called GameRail feels the pain of
latency-challenged online video gamers, and has developed a private
network that routes game traffic from PCs to about 10,000 servers
hosted by online gaming companies. Essentially, it allows online
gamers to bypass the Internet, the company claims.
For players of first-person shooter games, GameRails target
market, the higher the latency the slower the bullets and you
cant dodge out of the way, says John Alden, vice president of
business development. With lower latency, you can shoot better,
faster, and react faster.
Politicos such as Hillary Clinton and her crusaders against
violence in video games will be horrified. But at $11.99 per month,
with a free 30-day trial, players of Counter-Strike and other
online shooters might be tempted to give it a try.
In beta since October, and available commercially for the past
three weeks, GameRail has partnerships with game companies and
various residential broadband providers in most of the nations
largest markets, though it is focusing on square states like
Utah, Colorado and Arizona, where latency tends to be high, Alden
says. Alden claims GameRail reduces latency by 20% to 80%.
At the point that gamers traffic would go onto the Internet is
where it goes [instead] onto our network. Our subscribers download
a thin client and we map their connections directly to the data
centers where there is a high density of game servers, Alden says.
We dont do residential broadband and we dont do hosting. We just
collapse the routing.
A typical Internet connection can require many hops that increase
the millisecond delays in the data exchanges that happen between
gamers and game servers, Alden says. Its like flying across the
country on a plane but having multiple stopovers.
Outside of Boston, if you wanted to go to Los Angeles, youd
prefer a direct flight, he says. But for a gamer, youd fly
Boston to New York to Chicago to Denver and then youd get to
L.A.
GameRail is initially focusing on first-person shooters because the
quality of those games is heavily dependent on latency, Alden says.
Latency matters less in fantasy role-playing games like EverQuest
and World of Warcraft.
The quality of your network connection has a significant impact on
where you can play and the quality of the game playing, GameRail
states on its Web site. When you are competing, the players with
the fastest reactions usually win. The quality of your Internet
connection to the server has a significant impact on how the server
views your reaction time. A lower latency connection (low ping)
gives you an advantage over players on higher latency connections
(high ping).
GameRails not saying how many customers it has. Through its
relationships with broadband providers, up to 25 million homes in
the United States and 9 million in Canada could be directly
attached to the GameRail network, Alden says. GameRails initial
rollout targets Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York,
San Francisco, St. Louis and Seattle, and GameRail expects to
expand its network to an additional 17 cities in its next
phase.
Any gamer with a broadband connection can take advantage of the
service, though the connection to the GameRail network will be
indirect and slower if your Internet service provider does not have
a partnership with the company. GameRail has direct connections
with Cablevision, Cox and AT&T, but not Comcast.
We have multiple Internet connections in every major market,
Alden says. Were trying to build it so at worst case theyre one
hop away [from our network].
GameRail serves PC players exclusively for now, but Alden says the
companys plans include developing peer-to-peer connections between
Xbox Live players for LAN-like connectivity.
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US only. 