Big online game server plans brewing in SA

Teraco is in discussion with many local and international Gaming Service Providers (GSPs), Michele McCann, Business Development Manager for NAPAfrica, Teraco Data Environments confirmed to MyGaming.

When asked if in negotiations with any big-name GSPs in particular, McCann said “we’re not ready to name specific providers yet, but watch this space.”

Through NAPAfrica, Teraco’s vendor neutral and settlement free traffic exchange service, “the large platform and console providers such as Blizzard, Xbox, Nintendo, Sony, and others are now able to create a business case for Africa as they can distribute to the continent on a free and neutral peering basis” explained McCann.

NAPAfrica is a neutral, layer 2 Internet eXchange (IX) point, located within each Teraco data centre facility in South Africa. Instead of costly multiple direct links, a single peering point allows multiple networks to interconnect using an exchange environment.

Teraco and its NAPAfrica service provides a centralised, manageable and openly-peered location for GSPs to gain a foothold in the African internet environment. “Through greater awareness of open peering, NAPAfrica and Teraco offerings, we can assist global providers to motivate their business case for the African market,” said McCann.

“Our major focus is for large international gaming content providers to peer directly onto NAPAfrica in order to distribute their content throughout Africa. As NAPAfrica is a vendor neutral and settlement free exchange this providers a good distribution opportunity for content providers to enter the African market with minimal risk.”

A GSP such as Blizzard would roll out their own equipment for services such as Battle.net and World of WarCraft servers. McCann explained how Teraco can provide a platform for this: “Teraco is able to offer a neutral colocation facility where the physical platform can be housed. Teraco offers a strict SLA and guaranteed power which ensures the physical layer is ‘always on’.”

“In terms of connectivity, service providers can connect to all local carriers as well as several international providers such as Level 3, BT and Seacom. They can then leverage off existing global connectivity agreements to reduce the cost of bandwidth to enter the African market.”

“We offer a free and neutral peering point called NAPAfrica which can immediately provide the gaming service providers with a market place that can be used to easily distribute content overnight incurring no port fees, membership fees or interconnect fees,” said McCann.

Teraco NAPAfrica infographic

Gaming content distribution and lowering costs

Switching the conversation to game content distribution, McCann said “NAPAfrica members can already connect to Steam services via existing peers such as MWEB, WebAfrica and iBurst. We are also open to any discussions to assess the benefits of colocating gaming platforms directly onto NAPAfrica.”

Asked about plans for any other gaming related services, such as content mirrors for large digital distribution services, McCann said “[our] strategy has been built around improving the user experience and lowering the cost thereof. Key to its success is creating the awareness locally and globally that NAPAfrica is available for these providers and for this we need the full support of the community to drive the message. We are also reviewing the inclusion of mobile gaming applications on the exchange in order to distribute all types of gaming content.”

“It’s important to remember that with content distribution, the content is only as good as the platform it’s delivered on and the choice of connectivity available in order to reach it. It is key for all ISPs, mobile operators and carriers to review their peering policies and ensure that they connect to exchanges and start distributing the content directly to the users in order to lower the cost to the end consumer.”