EVE Online(R) Launches Largest Supercomputer In The Gaming Industry Running On IBM Server Technology
Austin Game Conference - September 8, 2006 - CCP Games announced today the largest supercomputer cluster in the history of the gaming industry for EVE Online, one of the leading science fiction Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG). The upgraded server cluster features dual-processor 64-bit AMD Opteron-based IBM BladeCenter LS20 blade servers, as well additional enhancements to the clusters internet backbone.
"The sharp growth rate of EVE Online was pushing the limits of the technology we replaced," said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games. "Our goal was to implement a scalable solution that could accommodate the influx of new subscribers and gracefully manage the steadily increasing demand put on our infrastructure. IBM provided us with optimized hardware that improved overall game performance and increased capacity, especially during peak server usage timeframes."
The EVE Online supercomputer cluster manages over 150 million database transactions per day on a 64-bit hardware architecture from IBM. The database servers don't use traditional hard drives but instead Solid State Disks (SSD) which are recognize as the worlds fastest storage devices with over 400,000 random I/Os per second. The recent world record of over 30,000 concurrent users on a single shard is a testament to the clusters capabilities and CCP is looking forward to support at least 50,000 concurrent users.
"CCP has really innovated traditional MMOG design," said David Laux, IBM Global Executive, Games & Interactive Entertainment. "IBM is proud to provide the powerful technology that will bring new excitement to the EVE community and help CCP continue to be successful."
About CCP
CCP Games is a privately held company that specializes in the creation, development, and distribution of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs). Founded in 1997, CCP is recognized internationally as a pioneer in the single-server persistent universe concept of the MMOG genre. CCP Games is headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland with an office in Shanghai, China. For more information on CCP, please visit: http://www.ccpgames.com
About EVE Online
Set tens of thousands of years in the future, EVE is a breathtaking journey to the stars, to an immersive experience filled with adventure, riches, danger, and glory. Supported by a vast player-run economy, EVE offers professions to choose ranging from commodities trader to mercenary; industrial entrepreneur to pirate; mining engineer to battle fleet commander; or any combination of these and much more. Your greatest asset is the starship, designed to accommodate your specific needs, skills, and ambitions. Complementing its lethal arsenal are thousands of modules and components, allowing for countless customizations. From brokering business deals to waging war, you will have access to a diverse array of sophisticated tools and interfaces to forge your own destiny in EVE. For more information on EVE Online, please visit: http://www.eve-online.com
About IBM
With 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate, IBM is the world's largest information technology company. Over the past 45 years, IBM has extended its business solutions into entertainment, professional sports and more recently games. As a long-time leader in the online gaming industry, IBM has helped some of the world's top games companies build profitable businesses with a full range of hardware, software and services offerings. Inside the consoles of every major video game system you'll find IBM technology. And inside IBM you'll find the expertise to help game companies reduce expenses while increasing efficiency and profitability in a complex yet boundless market. In 2005, IBM received an Emmy award for technical achievement in broadcasting. For more information on IBM, please visit: http://www.ibm.com
Contact:
CCP Games
Magnus Bergsson
354-540-9186
magnus@ccpgames.com
Jorge Alberni, IBM
(914) 766-3336 (office)
(646) 234-1617 (mobile)
alberni@us.ibm.com