September, 2007

World Cyber Games network taking shape

Day two of setting up the network for the World Cyber Games has seen the network take shape.

After a quick trip to Sears to grab some extra tools — a wrench and a screwdriver set — the 25 switches have been configured and assigned names and IP addresses, which will allow the team from ProCurve Networking by HP to manage them centrally. The more than 700 PCs have been fired up and assigned to their switches, making each gaming station its own miniature network. Ben Van Kerkwyk, the lead engineer, said each switch will provide gamers with 1 gig speeds and localizing the network to each gaming table cuts down on hops, which could degrade performance, which in a gaming environment could be disastrous.

Crews laid down more cable, creating a maze of multi-colored wires streaming to and from all of the ports. Once cabling is complete, the network will be segmented into separate VLANs and subnets, making it easier to manage, Van Kerkwyk said. The ProCurve team will also make some sections of the gaming area wireless for VIPs and admins.

There is also an overflow of extras — two more core switches arrived today, and there are extra 2650 switches on hand in case something goes wrong.

“We have three core switches and 15 power supplies, so we’re good if something goes down,” Van Kerkwyk said.

Here’s a draft of what the network will look like upon completion:

And here’s ProCurve technical consultant Chris Ruybal rack-mounting the 8212 core swtich:

World Cyber Games set up delayed, thanks to Bryan Adams

The World Cyber Games Grand Final is gearing up to be the gaming event of the year, with gamers from all over the globe gathering at Seattle’s Qwest Field Event Center to battle each other in FIFA ‘07, Counter Strike, StarCraft and others…sorry, no Ms. Pac Man or Donkey Kong for us old-schoolers. Picture the Super Bowl of the gaming world, a contemporary version of the events documented in The Wizard or King Of King.

But before the game-fest kicks off in earnest on Oct. 4, teams are working feverishly to set up the massive network to ensure the games go off without interruption and without a hitch. Imagine the network dropping out the final lap of Need For Speed Carbon?

In less than 48 hours, a team from ProCurve Networking by HP — with help from several other groups along the way — will assemble an enterprise-grade network powering roughly 1,000 network devices, more than 700 of which are gaming systems. A tall order for a temporary network.

Today was all about setting the stage. The ProCurve team used diagrams to plot the layout. It spent some time tracking down an elusive ProCurve 8212zl core switch (which was in the building, but nowhere to be found … despite the gaming festival being the 8212’s first public appearance). The rest of the day was spent powering up and troubleshooting more than 20 ProCurve Switch 2650s and mounting the found 8212. Elsewhere, teams laid cable, set up PCs and ensured things were good to go. And that was just in the balcony.

But, alas, progress was cut short on Thursday and the main event floor was off limits because 80s rocker Bryan Adams is performing at the venue Friday night. His sound check was set to begin at 4 p.m. Thursday, meaning all set up was suspended until Friday morning.

“That’s one of the challenges for setting up for an event like this,” said ProCurve Technical Consultant for the Americas Chris Ruybal. “The on again and off again.”

I guess Adams was right when he crooned, “It cuts like a knife.”

World Cyber Games sneak preview

Some of us may already be well aware of, or well on our way to, the video-game conference hosted in Seattle this year. For those of you not in the know, the buzz of gamers is in the air; World Cyber Games (WCG), the world’s largest game festival, starts October 4 and goes through October 7, and SearchNetworking.com reporter, Andrew Hickey, has the privilege to get a behind-the-scenes view — thanks to ProCurve Networking by HP, who is supporting the WCG network infrastructure. Get your gamer face on, and check back in to get a sneak peek into the festival.

Do geeks rule the world (or are we slaves to the marketing machine)?

It’s a banner week for geeks, at least for geek-themed pop culture. Between the release of Halo 3 on Tuesday and all the geek-friendly TV shows premiering all week long, I wonder how many people are able to concentrate on work.

My work week has been consumed with two activities: editing a screencast for SearchNetworking.com and launching this blog. Screencasts and blogs… two media forms that didn’t even exist just a few years ago, but have already become pretty mainstream. Even sportscasters these days are routinely rallying viewers to “check out the blog!”

Monday, Wired ran a story about the TV mainstreaming of geek chic phenomenon. I watched NBC’s Chuck this week (it’s the story of a retail tech support dude who unwittingly learns encrypted government secrets through an email attachment). Frankly, the show was entertaining, but less a celebration of the geek life and more a mainstream action/spy story with an underdog hero and some geek-friendly eye candy sprinkled on top — a Tron poster here, a Matrix-looking set there, a Zork reference in the first five minutes.

Still, tech and techhie references abound. Have geeks taken over the world?

Actually, I have this theory about marketers and geeks. There’s some kind of triggering mechanism in the modern psyche trained to tweak out at the mention of key concepts, the way mine does when I hear “Time Lord” or the first few measures of a Black Sabbath song. Like Pavlov’s dog, you start to salivate; you can’t think straight from the excitement. It’s that thing! That thing I like! That thing is me! I must own it! Your elven sword glows blue. Your processor crashes. And you open your wallet.

If you think about it, everybody has their trigger, whether it’s “shoe sale” or “baby back ribs.” But for geeks, I think there’s an especially mouth-watering hook that marketers can dangle out there because the geek concepts are mainly man-made technology items and pop-culture references… and there are so many diverse, yet specialized triggers (”wireless-G router,” “TIE fighter,” “20-sided die.”)… Stuff that can be sold. And geeks are buying.

The IT Guy: Tech support, I forgot my password

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