gameframe
{{short description|Hybrid computer system}}
{{tone|date=November 2018}}
A Gameframe is a hybrid computer system that was first used in the online video game industry. It is a combination of the technologies and architectures for supercomputers and mainframes, namely high computing power and high throughput.
History
In 2007, Hoplon and IBM jointly started the gameframe project, in which they used an IBM System z mainframe computer with attached Cell/B.E. blades (the eight-core parallel-processing chips that power Sony's PlayStation 3) to host[https://web.archive.org/web/20070429062025/http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/21433.wss Cell Broadband Engine Project Aims to Supercharge IBM Mainframe for Virtual Worlds] Apr 26, 2007 at ibm.com their online game Taikodom.
The project was carried further by a co-operation between IBM and the University of California, San Diego in 2009.[http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/03-09IBM.asp UC San Diego and IBM Launch Center for Next-Generation Digital Media to Power Tomorrow's Virtual Worlds] Mar 17, 2009 at ucsdnews.ucsd.edu
System z provides a high level of security and massive workload handling, ensuring the execution of its administrative tasks and guaranteeing an enduring connectivity to a huge number of clients.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ibm.com/it-infrastructure/z|title=IBM Z Mainframe Servers and Software|website=IBM |date=3 April 2024 }} Cell/B.E. takes over the most resource demanding calculations thus enabling System z to fulfill its job.
The combination is both an effective and financially attractive game server system, as the most computation-intensive tasks are offloaded from the expensive CPU cycles of System z and carried out on the more economical Cell blades. Without offloading, the server system required would not be financially feasible.[http://www-ti.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de/~spruth/DiplArb/roy.pdf Master's Thesis by Huiyan Roy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516010942/http://www-ti.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de/~spruth/DiplArb/roy.pdf |date=2011-05-16 }} University of Tübingen (2008)
The gameframe can handle the required transactions (e.g., keeping track of each user's spaceships, weapons, and virtual money even between the players) and the simulation (trajectory of objects and checking for collisions) in a unified and consistent fashion.
Thus, it can host a few thousand users at a time, and higher efficiency is experienced when more users are added.
Games with numerous players like World of Warcraft, have tackled this problem by splitting the work among multiple clusters, creating duplicate worlds that don't communicate.[https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-gameframe-guild IEEE Spectrum Magazine] Aug 2008 at ieee.org
The Cell-augmented mainframe runs Hoplon's virtual-world middleware, called bitVerse, which uses IBM's WebSphere XD and DB2 software.[http://news.cnet.com/IBM-to-wed-game-chip-with-mainframes/2100-1006_3-6179365.html IBM to wed game chip with mainframes] Apr 25, 2007 at news.cnet.com
Around the gameframe, the IBM Virtual Universe Community has evolved.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://spectrum.ieee.org/to-probe-further-the-gameframe-guild "To Probe Further: The Gameframe Guild"] Aug 2008 at ieee.org
- [http://www.mainframezone.com/article/mainframes-on-the-cutting-edge-of-technology-hoplon-infotainments-gameframe "Mainframes on the Cutting Edge of Technology: Hoplon Infotainment’s Gameframe"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120524231913/http://mainframezone.com/article/mainframes-on-the-cutting-edge-of-technology-hoplon-infotainments-gameframe |date=2012-05-24 }} Sept 11, 2008 at mainframezone.com
- [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/technology/26compute.html?_r=1 "Sun and I.B.M. to Offer New Class of High-End Servers"] Apr 26, 2007 at nytimes.com
= Videos =
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIMbzlLoOxc Hoplon Infotainment, Brazil startup and maker of Taikodom online video game] 27 Apr 2009 at YouTube
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0e5NxKZaBA Brazil Trip -- Hoplon Infotainment] 20 Sept 2007 at YouTube
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUyjGB6TqgY&feature=relmfu Mainframes in Brazil] 20 Sept 2007 at YouTube
{{Cell microprocessor segments}}
Category:IBM mainframe computers
Category:Massively multiplayer online role-playing games