Published on 13-Nov-2006
"With IBM technology, we’ve been able to develop a highly flexible hosting infrastructure that opens the door to a whole new market." - David Solari, Vice President and General Manager, Codemasters Online Gaming
Customer:
Codemasters
Industry:
Consumer Products, Media & Entertainment
Deployment country:
United Kingdom
Solution:
Digital Media
Overview
Codemasters (Warwickshire, England) develops world-class video games for several major game platforms.
Business need:
To increase sales in a competitive industry with low barriers to entry but high development costs.
A highly scalable and remotely manageable hardware platform to support the business strategy.
Solution:
A robust hosting platform based on IBM BladeCenter® hardware, managed remotely.
Benefits:
Successful early entry into a growing market segment; Significant revenues and thousands of new subscribers within two months; Heightens gamer satisfaction through high performance
Case Study
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“With IBM technology, we’ve been able to develop a highly flexible hosting infrastructure that opens the door to a whole new market.” |
Background
Codemasters develops world-class video games for several major game platforms. Headquartered in Warwickshire, United Kingdom, the company has produced more than 60 best-selling games.
Facing decreasing profit margins and increasing competition in an industry with low barriers to entry and high development costs, Codemasters needed to find a way to increase its sales. The company saw great potential for growth in the burgeoning Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) market, but it wanted to bypass hefty development costs by purchasing the rights to existing games and hosting them primarily for gamers based in the United States and Europe. Such a strategy would require a powerful, highly scalable and remotely manageable hardware platform.
Solution
Leveraging IBM BladeCenter® hardware, Codemasters implemented a robust hosting platform capable of delivering its new MMOG, “RF Online,” to thousands of gamers across two continents. The company deployed three IBM BladeCenter chassis to house a total of 18 BladeCenter HS20 servers, seven BladeCenter HS40 servers and five BladeCenter LS20 servers.
With this highly flexible hardware, Codemasters can expand its hosting infrastructure as demand for its game increases. Further, the remote management capabilities of the new hardware have allowed the company to build the hosting infrastructure in Boston, Massachusetts—the geographic center of its customer base—thus helping to ensure that gamers located 6,000 miles apart can receive the best possible gaming experience, with low network latency.
Benefits
• Enables successful early entry into a growing market segment
• Generates significant revenues and tens of thousands of new subscribers within two months by supporting the release of a new MMOG
• Heightens gamer satisfaction by providing high game performance
Products and services used
IBM products and services that were used in this case study.
Hardware:
BladeCenter HS20, BladeCenter HS40, BladeCenter LS20
Legal Information
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2006 IBM Corporation Route 100 Somers, NY 10589 U.S.A. Produced in the United States of America 10-06 All Rights Reserved BladeCenter, IBM and the IBM logo are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries or both. Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. The information contained in this documentation is provided for informational purposes only. While efforts were made to verify the completeness and accuracy of the information contained in this documentation, it is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, express or implied. In addition, this information is based on IBM’s current product plans and strategy, which are subject to change by IBM without notice. IBM shall not be responsible for any damages arising out of the use of, or otherwise related to, this documentation or any other documentation. Nothing contained in this documentation is intended to, nor shall have the effect of, creating any warranties or representations from IBM (or its suppliers or licensors), or altering the terms and conditions of the applicable license agreement governing the use of IBM software. MEC00178-USEN-00
