Halo II Signals Start of Broadband Gaming Boom

Halo II Signals Start of Broadband Gaming Boom

BASINGSTOKE, England, December 7/PRNewswire/ --

- Online Quality Concerns Intensify as ISPs Record Sustained Jump in Xbox
Live Traffic Following Popular Game's Launch



The long-expected broadband gaming boom, where hordes of players from
around the globe enter hosted Internet environments in order to do battle,
may now be underway thanks to the popularity of the Halo II live-play video
game.



An analysis conducted in November by broadband traffic measurement
specialist Sandvine Incorporated shows Microsoft Xbox Live traffic on ISP
networks quadrupled during the Nov. 9 launch of Halo II - a trend that
continues to this day.



The jump raises quality of service concerns for ISPs eager to keep gamers
- amongst the Internet's most avid and devoted users - from bolting to
providers with a better reputation for offering broadband access optimised
for live play.



Online games like Halo II require low latency from the ISPs that host
them. In order to avoid network disruptions or "jitters" that degrade the
pace and flow of virtual competition, network managers must be capable of
identifying game traffic and setting quality of service (QoS) policies that
protect it from interference.



"The explosion in X-Box Live traffic attributed to Halo II should be seen
as a clarion call," said Marc Morin, co-founder and chief technology officer
of Sandvine Incorporated. "ISPs need to enhance the broadband experience for
these high-end users by prioritising or reserving bandwidth for games and
other kinds of latency-sensitive and feature-rich applications."



"In the competitive broadband environment, operators need to
differentiate the way they offer access to services like live-play gaming,"
said Lindsay Schroth, senior analyst, broadband access technologies with The
Yankee Group. "We expect ISPs will look increasingly to intelligent bandwidth
management products as a means of analysing and distinguishing applications
on a per-subscriber basis, creating a way to prioritise or even guarantee
their performance."



Download Sandvine's trend analysis, "Gaming and QoS on broadband
networks" at http://www.sandvine.co.uk/solutions/download_center.asp.



About Sandvine



Sandvine's award-winning network equipment helps broadband service
providers boost profitability by adding powerful new intelligence to the
network. With Sandvine technology, network engineers can understand
subscriber behaviour, recognise and address network threats, classify
applications, guarantee service levels and create profitable tiers for
multiple broadband services - without a forklift upgrade to current
infrastructure. Sandvine is building a well-guarded bridge between what
broadband networks were originally engineered to do, and what broadband
applications are compelling them to do today. To find out more, visit
Sandvine online at www.sandvine.co.uk.





Source: Sandvine Inc

Mark De Wolf, Public Relations Manager, Sandvine, mdewolf@sandvine.co.uk; Lindsay Schroth, Senior Analyst, Broadband Access Technologies, The Yankee Group, lschroth@yankeegroup.com



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