SEGA Provides Reliability of Home Game Consoles
in Online Games with Force10 Networks
Customer
PROFILE
Customer
SEGA Corporation
Industry
Gaming Industry
Applications
Core Router
Highlights
SEGA deploys the TeraScale
E-Series in its gaming data
center to provide a reliable,
high performance foundation
for its online interactive worlds.
Widespread broadband adoption has enabled a
new class of bandwidth-intensive applications,
including online multiplayer gaming. Leveraging
high speed Internet connections and costeffective computing power, online games allow
users to interact with other users around the
world, create characters and explore elaborate
environments – all through home computers.
To support these games, in which hundreds of
thousands of players can join, online gaming
companies require a reliable, high speed
infrastructure that can scale as new worlds
are added and new gamers join each one.
Nowhere is this trend more pronounced than
in Japan – home to video game pioneer SEGA.
The gaming company revolutionized the
market with such game consoles as SEGA
Genesis and SEGA Dreamcast, and most
recently ventured into the online gaming world
with the introduction of the first online role
playing game, Phantasy Star Online in 2000.
To support its many game titles, including
RF Online and CHROMEHOUNDS, and provide
the reliability of offline games like those in
arcades or on home game consoles with the
flexibility of online worlds, SEGA turned to
Force10 Networks. Leveraging leading density
and robust resiliency, the Force10 TeraScale
E-Series family of switch/routers provides SEGA
with the scalability it needs to expand as its
game catalogue does.
Pioneering Online Gaming
SEGA, an amalgam of the words "service" and
"games," has been developing games for the last
six decades. As the leader in the industry, SEGA
has consistently set new bars for the gaming
industry and continues that trend today with
online, massively multi-player games that
give users the ability to create characters and
interact in various worlds.
"Growing broadband adoption really allowed
us to leave the offline game consoles and move
to interactive games where people around the
world could meet," said Agata Yoshimi of the
Network Operation Team at SEGA. "The move
to online games required not only the transition
of existing games to online environments, but
also the development of new games as well as
a network over which we could run the games."
Building a Network for Online Gaming
with Offline Reliability
Initially, SEGA implemented a network model
that isolated each game title within a distinct
cluster of servers. As game titles grew and
more players sought to enter the existing
games, this proved to be an unsustainable
model. In its pioneering spirit, SEGA made
a strategic decision to move from distinct
networks to a single consolidated network. To
anchor this network and provide all the benefits
of a stable, offline game with all the interactive
qualities of an online game, SEGA turned to the
Force10 TeraScale E300 switch/router.
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SEGA Provides Reliability of Home Game Consoles
in Online Games with Force10 Networks
Customer
PROFILE
"As households take up online gaming, we have
found the need to alter our network strategy to
better provide them with the quality gaming
experience they expect, and we’ve determined
that integrating our gaming networks would
best serve both our customers and our growth
plans," recognized Mr. Agata. "At the core of
this network, we needed a reliable and scalable
platform like the Force10 E300."
“The multi-processor
architecture of the
E300 is designed
to provide stable
service and overcome
temporary surges in
the traffic load. The
performance has met
all our expectations.”
Mr. Takasaki
Network Operations Team,
SEGA
With hundreds of thousands of gamers playing
a variety of games on the network, stability
and resiliency are essential. The three CPU
architecture of the Force10 TeraScale E300
works in conjunction with software features,
such as hitless failover, to eliminate unplanned
network downtime and ensure maximum
network reliability. By distributing switching,
routing and management functionalities
between three distinct processors, the TeraScale
E-Series provides unmatched resiliency and
protects against attacks on the network.
"The multi-processor architecture of the E300
is designed to provide stable service and
overcome temporary surges in the traffic load,"
said Mr. Takasaki, network engineer in the
Network Operations Department at SEGA.
"The performance has met all our expectations,
and we know that it’s working hard for us
toda, as well."
Simplifying the High Performance
Gaming Network
"In a network such as ours, simplicity is essential for both easy management and to ensure
that our customers have a seamless, online
gaming experience," Mr. Takasaki emphasized.
"The Force10 E300 exceeded these conditions
and gave us a solid platform for building out
our consolidated gaming network."
Supporting 48 Ten Gigabit and 288 Gigabit
Ethernet ports per system, the Force10 TeraScale
E300 simplifies network architectures by
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SEGA Provides Reliability of Home Game Consoles
in Online Games with Force10 Networks
Customer
PROFILE
reducing the number of systems required to
interconnect SEGA’s servers. Fewer systems in
the network reduce both capital expenses as
well as long-term operating expenses such as
power, cooling, rack space, engineering
support and management.
“At the core of this
network, we needed a
reliable and scalable
platform like the
Force10 E300.”
Mr. Agata
Network Operations Team,
SEGA
Increasing Reliability with
Carrier-Class Routing
In SEGA’s offline games, the screen changes
in 1/60th of a second. Gamers that are
accustomed to the rapid frame changes expect
the same quality in these online worlds. To
mimic the reliability of an offline game, SEGA
determined that it needed an infrastructure
with rapid BGP convergence times.
With thousands of gamers worldwide playing
on their network, SEGA knew it needed not
only a robust and stable network on which
to run the games but also robust peering
relationships to ensure high quality, real-time
communication between end users worldwide
and the gaming network.
"Game content like ours requires stable quality
for communication between the server and the
end user," said Mr. Agata. "Therefore, quick
BGP response times are required to strategically
select the fastest, most reliable connection,
including between ISPs worldwide."
TeraScale E-Series to provide high density,
line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet switching as
well as the rapid, scalable BGP convergence
times that SEGA needs to guarantee a reliable
gaming experience on its network.
"We needed the ability to ensure high quality
communication between our network and
the people playing our games," Mr. Agata said.
"The Force10 E300 was a perfect fit for our
requirements."
SEGA and Force10: Pioneering
the Future of Online Gaming
Gaming has become a dominant force in
Japanese culture even though online gaming
is still in its infancy. As SEGA continues to
develop new ways for people around the world
to interact in online worlds, it has the network
to support its growth and invention.
"As a part of our growth strategy, we will
explore all the possibilities that online gaming
offers," said Mr. Agata. "With the E-Series
switch/routers as the foundation of our
network, we are confident we have the high
performance infrastructure we need to support
our future plans."
The unique three CPU architecture of the
Force10 TeraScale E-Series, coupled with
advanced modular software, enables the
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