TeliaSonera: Online companies should better plan server usage

Online gaming companies could do better when it comes to the design of the platform itself, particularly the use of servers, says TeliaSonera's Vlad Ihora.

TeliaSonera International Carrier handles the network for World of Warcraft in Europe.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, the head of gaming community said that online game designers need to ask if they actually need the amount of servers they are purchasing. Often, if they have leftover cash, they will buy extra servers as a game's launch date approaches.

"Maybe you don't need to buy that," Ihora said. "Create a reserve for that many, and really make it available for hiring more developers for the next patch, or the next version - and lease some servers, and lease them from the perspective that you're going to have them available for three months when you have a burst."

"But when that burst cools off, you still have the option of buying - or you have the option of giving them back. The biggest thing we've been having with customers was being flexible to them both on the way up and on the way down."

Ihora thinks that many companies overprovide, when they might be better off with a good, safe platform and the option to upgrade easily.

"And of course connectivity isn't a problem, because we can implement another few gigabytes of traffic in a couple of days, even less, potentially just a couple of hours," he said.

Having a hundred more servers than a company needs also creates power issues which can affect the budget. He thinks that companies need to talk to the carriers, who can provide them with more sensible specifications.

"From these really basic numbers we can create a schematic, and they can ask how much will it cost, when can it be delivered, then they have a clear option ahead of them and they can focus purely on the game because they know the online component is ready.

"It's something we're really trying to do with companies today. We know they may launch next year, but it's good to just get this out of the way now, and make sure they know they have somebody to rely on," Ihora explained.

The complete interview with Vlad Ihora can be read here.