The first intercontinental multi-player Powerboat Challenge race over two Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks at the recent IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) 2009 conference in Dresden. The demonstration illustrates the capabilities possible on LTE next generation wireless broadband networks as envisioned by the ng Connect Program. For the first time, gamers played this award-winning high speed racing game in real time between Dresden and Ottawa over next generation LTE.“The demo at the IEEE ICC Conference will translate into a whole new revenue stream for wireless operators in that they can capture the imagination of both the game developer community and avid multi-player gamers everywhere,” stated Derek Kuhn, Vice President, Emerging Technology and Media Group, Alcatel-Lucent. “Since the start of the ng Connect Program a few short months ago, members have been working hard together to create exciting applications for next generation networks. FISHLABS and Alcatel-Lucent collaborated to create a much more compelling multi-player gaming experience taking users far beyond downloading a simple mobile game and playing alone.”
ng Connect Program member Alcatel-Lucent supplied its industry-leading solution for end-to-end LTE network, integrating Converged Radio Access Network (RAN) and Evolved Packet Core (EPC), and delivering super fast download speeds with reduced latency, to prototype LTE terminals. This showcases again how Alcatel-Lucent leverages wireless innovations and IP market leadership to deliver unprecedented scalability, quality of experience to LTE end-users, while enabling new service and business models for wireless operators.
The Powerboat Challenge™ game delivers a real-world racing experience as players demonstrate their skills by maneuvering around buoys and each other at high speeds. An ultra-fast LTE network environment is needed to support the real-time transmission of the competitors’ position data and the much more data-intensive physical values making the game feel more realistic.