The Solution

So what does GameRail offer? They do not offer a product that reduces existing internet congestion, or reduces your hops across the internet, or even a rip in the time-space continuum. Instead, they offer an entirely independent network available to gamers and gaming traffic only. This network is a nationwide, all-fiber, thing of glory. That's right, it is a giant fiber-powered private network just for us. By moving our traffic over to an independent network, the number of hops is far less and there is almost no congestion whatsoever. How did they manage to lay all that fiber? They didn't. GameRail partnered with BroadWing to use their nationwide backbone for their gaming network. This partnership dedicated a significant segment of the backbone to our traffic, so that not only is there almost no congestion, but we get the most out of this private network. Not only is this a physical dedicated network, but they have done everything they can to further reduce latency and optimize their network beyond even Tier 1 backbones.

Let's address some of the questions from earlier. First, let me clarify my NY to California example. Many of you may be saying, "Well, 30-35ms isn't that great of a ping." On the contrary -- that is the best you could get under ideal conditions. The world is governed by the laws of nature, and at this time we do not know of anything that moves faster than the speed of light. Thus, while working with fiber optics, you are bound by this limitation. When you are speaking in networking terms, you accrue about 8-10ms of latency for every 1,000 miles the light signal travels. So, if you were to run a hypothetical 2,500 mile direct line across the country between New York and California, you would have a ping of 20-25ms at the bare minimum. This is just due to the limitation that is the speed of light. Considering the fate that your average gamer attempting a cross-country connection like that will ping between 85-100 on a good day, the reduction in ping is incredible.

You now know that this is a real network that is separate from the rest of the internet, but how do you get on? The answer is so simple, it may just boggle your mind. No additional hardware is necessary, nor will you have to change anything with your ISP. You simply sign up for the service and run the GameRail software. You see, they have partnered with many ISPs and game server providers so that you can still play on the servers you know and love without having to change a thing. Your game servers will not need to be modified either. GameRail is working with any and all ISPs and GSPs (game server providers) that will listen in order to provide a direct peering, or connection, to the GameRail network. When direct peering is in place with an ISP or GSP, the packets that are encapsulated by the GameRail software automatically make the jump to the GameRail network. This avoids the regular internet entirely. Another visual is in order:

As you can see, the internet is avoided, along with all of its congestion. In addition, the number of hops is greatly reduced because there is no jumping from network to network. There is no harm done and no extensive changes needed on your part. You are still connected to both the regular internet and the GameRail network; however, now your gaming traffic will be routed to the GameRail network. It really is a near-perfect solution because it requires so little on the part of the end-user.

As I said earlier, GameRail is working with many different ISPs to provide superior interconnection with their network. These interconnections are being created as we speak and in places where they can't, GameRail is placing internet drains so you can still indirectly peer with their network.