Network limitations holding back innovation in some regions

This article talks about the video game industry, but before you tune out thinking that it has nothing to do with you or your company, you may want to read a little further along. With the next generation of consoles set for release, much of the discussion has centered on the idea of using cloud computing to stream game content to end users. This technology, essentially, functions as a high-definition video stream in which servers in the background are processing user activities and streaming the results to consumers in a video format. In other words, the trends in the video game sector closely mirror the rise of IPTV, cloud computing in the enterprise and many other emerging technology trends.

You may want to start paying attention to video game industry trends, as they are often an indication of what some of the most tech-hungry consumers are interested in, and recent input from Sony points to an overarching industry problem - you need a good network if you want to take full advantage of the cloud.

Network limitations holding back cloud gaming
In a recent interview with Edge magazine, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president and CEO Jim Ryan explained that the cloud gaming functions coming alongside the PlayStation 4 console will be delivered in North America in early 2014, the actual console will release in November in both U.S. and European markets. However, the cloud gaming service that will be part of the PS4 platform does not yet have a release date in Europe. Broadband issues are the reason for the delay.

"And so [the Gakai cloud gaming service release] will happen in 2014 in North America initially," Ryan told the news source. "Now, and I touched upon these issues of broadband in Europe during the [Gamescom] presentation - Europe is of course on the roadmap for that service to be deployed at some point in the future, but for reasons outside of our control we don't yet have a timeline for it."

Understanding the importance of FTTH
Advanced broadband systems enabled by FTTH and similar optical network technologies are a key innovation enabler in a variety of sectors. Europe has lagged behind in FTTH adoption in general, and many experts agree that many emerging technologies will soon begin pushing the boundaries of telecom connectivity options. The end result is a situation in which telecoms may want to start more seriously looking at FTTH investments, creating potential demand for media converters and other technologies that ease fiber network deployments.

Perle has an extensive range of Managed and Unmanaged Fiber Media Converters to extended copper-based Ethernet equipment over a fiber optic link, multimode to multimode and multimode to single mode fiber up to 160km.