TM Edge Gaming: Revolutionising Edge Gaming

If you do a quick search for edge computing use cases, you will not find a blog, research report, or a solution guide that doesn’t mention gaming.

There’s a good reason for that. Over the past two years, gaming as an industry has grown manifold. Globally, today, there are over 1.48 billion players and 55% of those are in the Asia Pacific region.

The advancement of gaming applications, the lockdowns induced by the pandemic, access to anywhere, anytime gaming, and an immersive, life-like gaming experience are some of the many drivers.

At the same time, edge computing has been quietly greasing its wheels to accelerate and enhance the gaming experience. In our previous blogs, you’ve read about the trends [link], in the gaming market that are shaping the gaming industry such as the rise of AR and VR, the advent of the multiverse and metaverse, etc. We also discussed the benefits [link] edge computing offers to the gaming industry and gamers. Some of them include, high bandwidth, better performance, and faster speed.

This is why, cloud gaming companies are looking to build edge servers as close to gamers as possible in order to provide a fully responsive and immersive gaming experience.

Gaming content suppliers can gain a huge financial incentive by avoiding paying high fees to distribute their games through gaming consoles. By offering the same games on the edge, they can reduce their distribution costs significantly.

But how does edge computing make that happen? It enables the distribution of gaming application processes at the edge of the network and as near to the user as possible. This enables faster data transmission, and significantly speeds up the gaming experience, compared to a larger, centralised data centre.

Today, edge gaming is becoming a hot favourite of ISPs and telcos, hyperscalers, game developers and OTTs.

And most of that action is happening in the Asia Pacific region. If you happen to be in Asia in the gaming industry, then you’re in the right place at the right time. Consider this: China is gradually becoming the hub of edge gaming research, where nine of the top 10 edge gaming companies that hold patents are in China.

Clearly, it is an imperative for gaming companies in Asia to partner with an edge gaming provider that understands the market, has extensive PoPs, and provides tremendous benefits to both gaming providers and end users.

Telekom Malaysia (TM), with its edge gaming offering is armed with everything you need.

 

TM Edge Gaming: Game Face On

TM Edge Gaming is a holistic edge gaming ecosystem that leverages TM’s edge facility located closer to the end user to provide a delightful digital gaming experience. TM Edge Gaming is compatible with all devices and operating systems and also provides API integration with ISPs for a smoother end user experience.

TM Edge Gaming covers both the infrastructure and service components that are essential for enhancing the gaming experience. TM’s edge facilities house GPU based PoPs and associated CPU switches. It also provides upstream and downstream connectivity and last-mile delivery. These infrastructure components are crucial for gaming companies to ensure faster download speeds and better performance. Its backend systems provide game server provisioning and customer base management, among others.

TM can double up as a telco provider and an edge gaming provider that delivers an end-to-end solution that ensures gaming services are always on. Another advantage of partnering with TM is that it is a major telco player in Southeast Asia, and can help gaming providers explore this new and emerging gaming market.

TM provides cloud gaming services, wherein, it is a game subscription service that allows customers to access a full library of online video games from multiple publishers.

It also provides access to eSports, which is a gaming community and an amalgamation of friendly competitive video games where teams or individuals compete against each other in a tournament for a reward.

TM Edge Gaming provides extensive benefits for both service providers and end users. Service providers can now pay-as-you-grow, scale capacity requirement, and go to market faster. TM Edge Gaming enables gamers to enjoy ultra-low latency gaming experiences with stable connectivity and faster streaming speeds. With edge gaming, gamers don’t have to download games to their devices, they can now play on-the-go and on any device of their choice.

All you have to do is partner with TM. It’s time to play in the big league. Start drafting your game plan with TM Edge Gaming today.

 

What’s the one business capability that will never go out of style?

The ability to be profitable? Or, maybe, the innovation required to sense and create a new product or service that consumers truly desire? On the face of it, these are sensible answers.

But history, and many business leaders, would disagree. For close to a decade, they would point out, digital companies—from start-ups to decacorns—have focused, almost singularly, on the top line, market share or gross merchandise value—not so much on profitability. As for having an inventive streak, hundreds of fast-followers will contend that their competitive edge is derived from the great execution of an existing idea—not coming up with it.

There is one competence, however, that has stood the test of time: Business agility. The dexterity to pivot and change strategies based on market conditions, the resourcefulness and resilience needed to cope and thrive despite economic and environmental volatility. If the COVID-19 crisis has taught organisations anything, it is this: The ability to adapt will never go out of style.

In the digital age, an organisation’s agility stems, in large part, on how flexible its networks are. The ability to enable employees to work from home almost overnight, or address a sudden uptick in online orders, or close and open new branches in different locations to service new micro-markets: All of these need the ability to shunt and shape network traffic easily, securely and swiftly. This is why the future of SD WANs is certain and why it will continue to garner increasing market share.

But what other drivers are pushing businesses into adopting SD WANs? What changes in the business, technology, and innovation landscapes are leading to a deeper embrace of SD WAN?

Here are three important ones.

 

Hybrid Workplace Strategies Drive Investment in SD WANs

For business leaders, it can be a confusing time to make decisions around working arrangements. Should they continue with remote strategies? Or call staffers back to the office?

A middle path seems to be the answer for the foreseeable future.

According to analyst firm, Futuriom’s SD-WAN/SASE Managed Services Survey 2022, 57% of organisations said they have immediate plans for hybrid scenarios (on-premises and remote connectivity), and 25% said they have similar plans for the next 6-12 months. In total, 82% of respondents said they have plans for hybrid scenarios of connectivity over the next 12 months.

When asked whether the advent of digitalisation and hybrid work environments increased their company’s need for SD WAN services, 83% responded in the affirmative, indicating the continued growth of SD WAN.

But it isn’t just the sheer number of companies continuing to pursue hybrid work strategies, that is raising the need for SD WANs. It is also a question of hybrid-work intensity, and the range of hybrid-work variations that is demanding a level of network agility that SD WAN can supply.

Hybrid-work intensity refers to the increasing number employees, per organisation, using an increasing number of digital tools, at undefined hours during the day—all of which results in an increase in network traffic, and network traffic uncertainty. For example, the At Work: The 2022 Workplace Trends Report (registration required), shows that in the last two years, workplace traffic has jumped by more than 3X, and that 40% of companies invested more in conferencing technology. This increase in unpredictable network traffic requires the capabilities of SD WAN.

All of this on-the-fly changes to work environments requires a much more elastic, secure, resilient, and agile network, which explains the increasing demand for SD WAN.

 

The Convergence of Networking and Security

As organisations migrate and modernise more of their technology estate on the cloud, there’s been a growing movement to marry networking and security to generate new levels of efficiency and resilience.

Which is why over the last two years, ever since Gartner first described it in August 2019, SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) has grown in popularity.

“Software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) technology have emerged as two of the fastest-growing markets in enterprise networking and cybersecurity. The two technology platforms are now converging to manage a wide variety of networking and security services,” says Futuriom’s report.

When analysts at Futuriom asked businesses if they believed the use of SASE would grow as part of their organisation’s strategy to implement a more agile, pervasive cybersecurity strategy, a full 85% responded with “Yes.”

 

So how does this trend affect SD WANs?

SASE is a vision, which combines multiple capabilities including CASB (cloud access security broker), secure Web gateway, firewall-as-a-service, and ZTNA (zero trust network access). But critically, SASE is underpinned by SD WANs.

SASE Vs SD WAN: What’s What?
SASE	SD-WAN
It’s a model or framework that integrates networking and security, thereby improving enterprise readiness–especially from a security perspective–for a more distributed, cloud-first, hybrid-workplace computing environment.	It’s an architecture and a technology that leverages software (overlay) to allow administrators to remotely manage connectivity circuits, thereby improving cost, application performance, and network resilence and management.
Fixes the problem of empowering remote user and branch traffic to access cloud services by routing them though globally-distributed, secure PoPs.	Fixes the problem of having to backhaul branch traffic to datacenters for security inspection, which increases latency and degrades application performance.
Combines multiple technologies–including SD WAN, SWG, CASB, ZTNA and FWaaS–to connect employees to applications.	Offers some traffic segmentation and some security solutions, but is primarily meant to shunt traffic.
Provides security to employees accessing applications and data from outside the network.	Establishes security within the corporate network.

 

“Essentially, SASE is a new package of technologies including SD WAN, SWG, CASB, ZTNA and FWaaS as core abilities, with the ability to identity sensitive data or malware and the ability to decrypt content at line speed, with continuous monitoring of sessions for risk and trust levels,” says Andrew Lerner, Vice President, Gartner Research.

As more organisations adopt SASE frameworks, as they are, it is likely that we will see greater adoption of SD WANs.

 

The Rise of IoT, 5G, AI, and Edge Computing

We live in an age of data. As a greater number of companies—across industries and revenue sizes—uncover new ways to extract the most value from their data, there’s been a corresponding uptick in the use of real-time applications and data applications. Among the most prominent examples of these are IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) use cases such as predictive maintenance, and quality and facility management; smart healthcare applications; remote monitoring and alert solutions in capital intensive industries such as Oil and Gas; and autonomous vehicles, among others.

These applications bring together the benefits of 5G, AI, IoT and edge computing. They are often latency-sensitive and have little tolerance for network downtime. Data streaming from sensors are transported to micro-data centres, at the edge, using a mix of connectivity options including private 5G. These micro-data centres then pre-process data and dispatch some of it to the cloud for analysis, where AI and machine learning algorithms draw out insight for businesses.

Although edge computing environments manage a sizeable portion of data coming off sensors, there’s still a significant amount of information that must be sent to the cloud for storage and analysis. This additional traffic can create pressure on networks, especially for applications that are sensitive to latency. Here, too, SD WAN can achieve network outcomes that are not possible with more traditional MPLS-based WAN models.

As SD WANs continue to dominate the future, driven by the trends we’ve discussed, it is critical for businesses, especially global companies, to partner with an SD WAN provider.

As we have pointed out earlier (link), most organisations are choosing a managed service provider route to implement SD WAN. What is, possibly, less known is that a majority also prefer providers with a telecommunication heritage.

In the State of the WAN Report, analysts asked businesses that were thinking of undergoing a WAN transformation (including SD-WAN/SASE), which type of provider they preferred to partner with. The majority (37%) said they would choose a managed service from a Telco or a generalist managed service provider (MSP)—rather than from an integrator with deep sector expertise.

Telcos have an edge over other types of SD WAN providers because they own, can offer options, and have experience with multiple types of underlay—in addition to having expertise in overlay and orchestration capabilities.

TM Global —the global and wholesale business arm of TM Technology Services Sdn Bhd (TM) —offers precisely these abilities and more. It provides network agility to businesses with a one-stop, secure SD-WAN managed solution consisting of next-generation WAN control, bundled with global and local connectivity, leveraging its own extensive IPVPN global network, internet access, and its global partners’ presence to create a seamless, high performing platform. It offers a range of connectivity types including broadband Internet, dedicated Internet access (DIA), mobile LTE, IPVPN, satellite, and global private meshed backbone. Additionally, it has a BYOC (Bring Your Own Connectivity) option.

TM Global offers Global SD WAN packages in three flavours: SD-Lite, SD-Pro, and SD-Flex, covering over 190 countries. Its solutions include professional services, SASE, Cloud-on-Ramp capabilities, an enhanced security suite; SD-WAN dashboards and analytics, a 24x7 contact centre and local field support, among others.

Future-proof your organisation and build the agility your business needs to thrive in volatile markets with TM’s Global SD WAN. Connect with us to know about our offerings.

With over 82% of Southeast Asia's online population being gamers, video games are one of the most popular ways we spend our time. Mobile gaming is the most convenient platform for on-the-go users and video gaming is projected to have a market volume of US $293 Billion by 2027. Despite its popularity, there is still a lot of potential to be realised in the gaming industry. This is in part due to a lack of innovation. Current network, storage (locally and in the cloud), and processing limitations have made delivery of this kind of sophistication on a mobile or IoT device for online gaming, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) challenging.

 

Gaming on the edge

Most game processing today is done locally on devices. While it is possible to allow some processing to happen on a cloud server - where a device can send data to be processed and then returned - these servers are usually located in large, far-away data centres. This means that the time it takes for the data to return will ultimately degrade the gaming experience.

Edge computing, however, promises better gaming experiences by lowering latency and improving accessibility at a more affordable cost to gamers. When workloads run at the edge of the network (instead of being sent to a few centralised locations for processing), data need only travel the minimum necessary distance, reducing associated lag time and enabling more interactive and immersive in-game experiences. Furthermore, edge computing is paving the way for more subscription-based models that could ultimately put some money back in gamers' pockets by reducing the need for game and hardware investments.

So is it possible to build an edge gaming solution by yourself, but at what cost? Again, time-to-market matters. Most cloud vendors provide the tools to build an edge solution, but the cost, time, skills and expertise needed to build, grow and maintain an edge management solution needs to be checked. Often, it's simpler, less costly and easier to get a one-stop solution from a third-party edge gaming solutions provider who provides both gaming and edge compute as one integrated solution.

What follows are just a few questions that should be part of every evaluation, along with a brief explanation as to why they're important.

1. Is your edge gaming provider 5G-ready?

   An optimised network makes your gaming experience as smooth as possible. If the signal connecting you to the internet is acting up, there is only so far you can go with the hardware.

   Wireless networks are on their way to faster speeds and near-instant connections with 5G networks. Emerging technologies such as 5G and edge computing improve the ability to innovate and infuse AI and machine learning into edge solutions, opening up new possibilities for use cases and business models. However, 5G will not be able to meet its performance goals of extremely low latency and massive broadband without edge computing due to the time it takes data to travel across the fibre networks that connect the radios on towers to the network core.

   Once the application or content has moved closer to the radio at the edge of the network, network latency decreases. With high-performance computer hardware and radios that prioritise traffic, 5G latency goals will be more easily met. In short, 5G needs robust edge computing infrastructure and network support.

    
2. How many PoPs does your edge gaming provider have?

   In order to compete in a 5G landscape, gaming companies require connections at as many Points of Presence (PoPs) as possible to ensure that the latency and bandwidth requirements of 5G can be met.

   PoPs work as a bridge between end-users and content besides offering a wide range of attributes. These are also reckoned for their load balancing features and have a remarkable ability to support redundancy. More number of POPs is a prerequisite for services that cater to global audiences or deal with longer videos and other media.

   It is much easier to access content from a local CDN PoP than travelling across continents to gain access to main servers. An edge gaming provider that promises the fastest infrastructure and the largest PoPs in data centres around the world— that's the one that should rank higher on your edge gaming providers list.

    
3. Does your edge gaming provider support multiplayer game development?

   As online game developers and multinational game publishers look for further growth opportunities, optimising content delivery and keeping a seamless customer experience is paramount.

   An edge gaming provider should be able to provide gaming developer companies with the same infrastructure, services, APIs, and tools to virtually any data centre, colocation space, or on-premises facility for a truly consistent hybrid experience.

   Teams need to be able to focus on developing unique games, not 'undifferentiated heavy lifting' (IT work that doesn't add value). As games get bigger and target more platforms, build processes require more compute and storage resources. Better workflow comes from removing such undifferentiated heavy lifting, which means it's a faster and smoother path to deployment.

   Choose an edge provider that promises your team more time to concentrate on making exceptional multiplayer titles (real twitch games) and not on managing and monitoring the environment.

    
4. Does your edge gaming provider help improve video game delivery and optimize costs?

   Customers' expectations for compelling, immersive real-time interactions continue to grow, and boundaries between the physical and the digital continue to erode. More and more online game developers and multinational game publishers are using edge computing to optimize content delivery and improve user experience.

   When a game launches, the publisher needs to ensure they have the sufficient hosting capacity for the number of players they expect in the game. Plan for too little, and you risk players experiencing poor performance and potentially being unable to play at all. Plan for too much, and you are paying for the capacity you don't need. Being able to react to demand is, therefore, critical, as the game's financial performance depends on matching capacity planning to the actual demand.

    
5. Does your edge gaming provider enable better VR/AR?

   Edge computing (together with 5G) could also help AR games live up to their potential, going well beyond the limitations of the available technology.

   AR devices also tend to require a tremendous amount of processing for object recognition, among other things. In location-based AR games (where multiple people play the same game in the same place), the same data has to be individually processed on each device. But with edge processing, this redundancy can be removed, allowing specific data to be processed just once before streaming the results to multiple users. As a whole, this will bring a more enjoyable and accurate AR experience, enhancing the mobile AR gaming experience and improving battery life.
    

   Edge gaming will help decrease the need for high-end devices to play high-quality, collaborative games, removing an entry barrier to gaming and increasing the number of people who can enjoy gaming from our everyday devices.

   Edge computing promises better gaming experiences by lowering latency and improving accessibility at a more affordable cost to gamers. Explore how TM Edge Gaming helps game companies publish better multiplayer games leveraging its edge facilities, including edge compute and last-mile delivery to scale gaming services in Southeast Asia.