

Objective
Provide network connectivity to hundreds of top tier gaming platforms including PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PCs and Nintendo Switch, for gaming expos, hands-on gaming demos, and e-Sports tournaments in Saudi Arabia’s biggest gaming festival ever produced in the Middle East. High-end games require a very low latency, scalable and reliable network environment, with no tolerance for failures or downtime.
Expected Attendee Network Usage
50,000+ attendees having an incredibly diverse and immersive user experience across multiple gaming platforms over the four live days of the event.
Strategy
Early strategic planning and integration with client, venue and event management team to execute network implementation and continue to eliminate prior challenges from previous Insomnia events through risk mitigation. Work closely with Insomnia engineers to ensure bandwidth allocation and equipment will support event initiatives. SUT to manage and deploy network core, backbone, distribution and access layers - including all physical infrastructure.
Tactics
-
Implementation of 10Gbps fiber optics single-mode backbone and core infrastructure
-
On-site fabrication of custom single-mode fiber optics cables to support the 10G network backbone
-
Activation of a 4Gbps primary uplink with a 500Mbps active-backup solution
-
Implementation of a high-end HTTP caching server, to locally cache game downloads, updates, and OS updates in order to manage and contain ISP link usage
-
Managed (switch) environment throughout all the venues
-
Strategic positioning of Wireless Access Points to support wireless-only gaming devices (Nintendo Switch) and guarantee a dedicated bandwidth for these devices
-
Real-time network monitoring of every device and service on-site - with visual and audible alerts in case of device failures
-
Real-Time monitoring across all networks. (In order to detect high/unusual usage from each game and be able to quickly respond to it)
-
Daily communications with event management and Insomnia teams
-
Daily network usage and end of show reporting
Results
-
Peaked above 2.3 Gbps on the primary internet link
-
5.35 TB of data downloaded in 4 days
-
7.75TB of data served by the local cache server (saved bandwidth)
-
91.8% Cache Hit Ratio
-
Over 37TB of total data traversing the backbone in 4 days
- ​0% downtime on gaming tournaments and demos​
