OFS, Wave7Optics and Microsoft demonstrate first online gaming applications over a FTTP network
7 October 2003 New Orleans Lightwave--OFS, Wave7Optics, and Microsoft Corp., today announced the world's first demonstration of a live online gaming application, simultaneous with voice, video, and data services, over a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network. The demonstration at the Fiber-to-the-Home Conference and Expo 2003, held in New Orleans, October 7-9, is enabled by OFS' Access ADVANTAGE FTTP System and Wave7Optics' Last Mile Link (LML) single fiber optical access solution. Show attendees can play Microsoft's Xbox Live and simultaneously access the Internet, talk using the Xbox Live Communicator headset, and view broadcast video to experience the power of optical access networks.
The configuration consists of Wave7Optics' LML advanced optical access system supporting converged voice, data, broadcast video, and the Xbox Live service, over the Access ADVANTAGE FTTP system. Wave7 Optics' Last Mile Core (LMC) equipment is connected via OFS' AllWave fiber, low-loss LC connectors, low-loss adapters, and low-loss Blue Tiger LC jumpers to Wave7 Optics' Last Mile Gateways (LMGs) that each serve a subscriber. It effectively doubles the supported distance between the LMC and LMG. This tremendous increase in reach over other fiber and connectivity solutions demonstrates the obvious benefits of utilizing the low-loss Access ADVANTAGE FTTP system with the Wave7 Optics' LML system.
Xbox Live can take advantage of very high-speed FTTP optical access networks to deliver enhanced gaming experiences for subscribers. With access speeds over 100 times faster than conventional broadband solutions, FTTP can enable lightning fast Xbox Live game experiences.
"We are pleased to partner with OFS and Wave7Optics on this first live online gaming demonstration over a fiber network, and to support the deployment of FTTP to pave the way for future high-speed, broadband applications,"said Mike Lucero, Xbox Live Group product manager. Xbox Live, which launched in the United States Nov. 15, 2002, allows gamers to play multiplayer Xbox games with other gamers worldwide via a broadband connection. With a built-in hard drive and Ethernet port, the Xbox console is the only video game system built from the ground up for online gaming, according to Microsoft. .
The OFS Access ADVANTAGE system is a complete FTTP cabling and connectivity system that features the AllWave Full Spectrum ADVANTAGE fiber offering 50% more bandwidth that can be used for premium residential services such as instant on-demand HDTV.
The Wave7Optics' LML advanced optical access system provides video (CATV and digital, including IP streaming), high-speed data and telephony services (IP-based or circuit-based) to subscribers with dedicated and on-demand symmetrical data rates of up to 500 Mbits/sec, all on a single fiber. The LML architecture is standards-based, cost-competitive with current hybrid fiber-coaxial cable implementations, and includes quality-of-service mechanisms for enhanced features.