Cisco, Corous360 and IAHGames Take Online Gaming to the Cloud

First Online Game Provider in Southeast Asia to Embrace Cloud Computing

SINGAPORE – 16 Nov, 2011- Infocomm Asia Holdings (IAHGames), a leading publisher, operator and distributor of popular online games, today announced that they are the first gaming company in Southeast Asia to use the power of unified computing to deliver efficiency and scalability to their operations in the region. IAHGames achieved this using Corous360, a leading independent online games cloud service provider that chose the Cisco Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS™) to take their operations of managing interactive entertainment into the virtual space. The implementation provides a highly secure, scalable, efficient and cost-effective platform that reduces information technology infrastructure costs and complexity, while improving IAHGames’ business agility. The business value in using cloud computing has also resulted in IAHGames offering the platform to all game developers and providers, as they collaborate to share  knowledge and cost-savings measures with other companies in the industry, taking the business of online games, to a future-state.

KEY FACTS / HIGHLIGHTS

• Founded in 2005, IAHGames aims to become a premier online game provider in Southeast Asia. Supporting this vision, they set up a regional online gaming hub, providing popular massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) to attract more users and grow their business.
• IAHGames is the leading provider of popular online games such as EA SPORTS™ FIFA Online 2, Granado Espada, Dragonica and Counter-Strike Online. Based in Singapore, the company relies on their data center to host games regionally for users in countries such as Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand.
• Corous360 specializes in helping customers maximize the availability and utilization of their online gaming IT infrastructure, and reduce their operation costs in running their online games. In addition to providing a next-generation hosting platform for online gaming with functionality for account management, payment management and service management, Corous360 provides the cloud infrastructure that underpins the efficient delivery of gaming experience to the rapidly growing Southeast Asia online gaming community.
• Corous360 has successfully completed its cloud infrastructure set-up in Indonesia and Malaysia. Their geographic expansion includes Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, reinforcing their position as the leading independent online games cloud provider in the region.

Corous360, using the Cisco Unified Computing System, enables IAHGames to achieve:

• Increased Cost Savings: With the power of virtualization using Cisco UCS, IAHGames expects up to 60 percent savings in operational expenses due to the smaller footprint in the data center. Cloud computing has reduced their total overall cost of running a data center and provides dynamic resource provisioning for increased business agility. The converged infrastructure also provided immediate cost savings from equipment consolidation. IAHGames was able to reduce the total number of physical servers from 300 to 30 and due to the virtualized environment; they were also able to save on IT manpower costs. The reduced power consumption also allowed the company to be environmentally friendly.
• Decreased infrastructure costs: Corous360 implemented the project for IAHGames and will manage the day-to-day support of the hardware infrastructure, software and services. With a flexible pricing model that charges on a pay-per-use basis, Corous360 helps IAHGames drastically reduce their initial infrastructure outlay cost with each new game, which traditionally used to be the biggest running cost for the company whenever there was a new game to be launched as well as the biggest risk.
• Quicker route to market: From a business perspective, IAHGames is able to go-to-market faster with the Cisco UCS implementation due to time and infrastructure savings from using a virtual platform. The virtualized machines provide agility and higher utilization from the infrastructure, allowing IAHGames to focus on the business of online gaming.

SUPPORTING QUOTES:

• Irving Tan, managing director for  Asia South at Cisco 

“IAHGames has established itself as a pioneer in Southeast Asia by their decision to bring online gaming to the cloud with Cisco. Delivering strategic value across the business and giving them a huge advantage over other players in the industry, cloud computing helps IAHGames communicate and access information more dynamically and securely, reinforcing the basic premise that the network makes clouds happen.”

• Roland Ong, CEO at IAHGames

“IAHGames aims to bring the best games experience to Southeast Asian gamers and this includes working tirelessly to bring the latest top-quality online games in the shortest time possible. With the region being one of the fastest growing markets for online gaming, this collaboration with Cisco and Corous360 has brought about a technically effective and robust solution to both our gamers and game developers.” 

• Winston Koh, CEO at Corous360

“We want to help online gaming companies move to the cloud and IAHGames is a prime example. Using Cisco Unified Computing System helps us manage the virtualized environment better as we can easily increase scalability according to customers’ demand without the added complexity as it is managed as a single system. Coupled with our ability to understand the specific needs of the gaming industry, we help games publishers move into regional markets rapidly, just as we are now serving IAHGames’ needs in the region. The new business models enabled by collaborations like this provide opportunities in cloud computing that the rest of the industry is aspiring towards.”

SUPPORTING RESOURCES:

• Visit IAHGames online
• View Corous360 website
• View Cisco Unified Computing website
• Read Cisco Data Center Networks blog
• Follow Cisco APAC on twitter
• Cisco News RSS Feed

About IAHGames

Headquartered in Singapore, IAHGames is a leading publisher, operator and distributor of interactive entertainment. The company currently operates award-winning titles including EA SPORTS™ FIFA Online 2, Granado Espada, Dragonica and Counter-Strike Online.

One of the first online game companies in the world to receive ISO 9001:2000 certification for “Distribution and Operation of Online Games”, IAHGames executes a unique “One Market, One Asia” strategy that offers developers and publishers a one-stop distribution service for multiple countries.

About Corous360

Corous360 is the leading independent online games cloud service provider in Southeast Asia and offers an integrated suite of end-to-end services to enable game developers, publishers and gamers to converge on a common platform and interact in a single community.

Leveraging on its wealth of experience in deploying enterprise IT, supported by a professional team of industry experts, Corous360 offers its partners and customers a new dimension of value and support in the growing and dynamic industry of online gaming. By revolutionising the way online games are being operated, Corous360 helps lower operation costs and minimize business risks for game developers and publishers while enhancing gamers’ experience through its regional connectivity set-up across Southeast Asia.  Additionally, Corous360 serves as a one-stop shop for game publishers and developers looking for a partner with good understanding of online game operations and service delivery and who can effectively help them expand into Southeast Asia.

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO, news, filings) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com. Cisco products are supplied in Singapore by Cisco Systems International B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.

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