TECHNICAL

S O L U T I O N
GUIDE

Digital Media:
Massively Multiplayer
Online Gaming (MMOG) DIGITAL MEDIA

Game developers call the art of optimizing code for Solution Provider
The Butterfly.net Grid
a particular game platform getting close to the metal. Solution Focus Area
Subscription Media
Butterfly.net has created a powerful architecture for online ServicesMMOG

game developers who are looking to optimize game Solution Architecture

Massively Multiplayer
performance through tight integration of hardware and Online Gaming Grid

softwarethat is, get close to the metalin

a high-performance way.

The company believes massively multiplayer (MMP) online

gaming using symmetric multi-processor (SMP) computing

has significant value within an online gaming development,

production, and delivery environment.

 T E C H N I C A L S O L U T I O N G U I D E

Defining Online Gaming and Massively Multiplayer

Games Technologies

The video game market is

expected to grow from

Computer games today are incredibly complex. With each new generation of hardware,
developers can create even more fantastic universes in which players can immerse
themselves. As the universes in games grow more complexmore worlds, more build-
$10 billion in 2001 to $18 billion ings, more rooms, with more polygons, textures, characters, and so onso does the
development, distribution, and infrastructure needed to support them.
in 20051, and thats just in
The video game market is expected to grow from $10 billion in 2001 to $18 billion
the United States. in 20051, and thats just in the United States. A trend of this magnitude will experience

growing pains, and online gaming is no exception. The Internet has brought to the gamer
what standalone systems never could: millions of users on a packet network investing
enormous amounts of time, energy, and money in the pursuit of adventure, status,
power, fellowship, and fun in persistent-state, massively multiplayer games (MMGs).
Examples such as EverQuest*, the first 3D-hardware-required MMG, claims a half-
million subscribers. NCSoft estimates that each month 1.2 million people pay to play
Lineage2, its South Korean MMG. But as engrossing and compelling as current MMGs
are for some players, they leave most gamers cold, for several reasons:
MMGs are often unavailable for hours at a time. By contrast, standalone games
offer rapid response times.
MMGs suffer from lag. Standalone games host intelligent adversaries and allies
in thought-provoking conflicts.
MMGs offer a minimal set of interactions.
One reason that MMGs do not currently operate as well as standalone games is that
MMG developers do not have a development platform on which to write and test their
games. For example, standalone game developers, writing for personal computers,
can optimize their code for DirectX*. Developers creating games for console devices,
such as the Sony* PlayStation* 2 (PS2), can write to the Emotion Engine*. In these
cases, developers have the opportunity to code to the metal of a particular device
or platform and the peripherals that each platform supportsto optimize game
performance through tight integration of hardware and software.
MMGs also suffered from conventional network infrastructure problems that have
developed as quickly as the number of online gamers. Legacy servers based on inflexible,
monolithic architectures are the source of the problems. To overcome server limitations,
game designers must divide games into shards that provide copies of each game
world on separate servers. Generally, each shard supports a maximum of around 4,000
gamers. As a result, MMG developers struggle with complex network and software
balance issues, which distracts them from developing the best games possible.
Game publishers, in turn, must manage and support homegrown technologies for each
game. This limits their ability to build effective, repeatable, and reliable infrastructures
that support multiple MMGs and titles. They are forced to a high price for poor reliability
and support costs, even as valuable revenue diminishes, thanks to server maintenance
and reconfiguration that shuts down or slows down entire games.

1
Intel Business Center Case Study, Butterfly.net Uses Intel Architecture to Build a Global Gaming Grid, Pg.1, Copyright 2003, Intel Corporation
2
The Butterfly Grid: Technical Architecture Overview, Pg.7, Copyright 2002 Butterfly.net, Inc.

2
 T E C H N I C A L S O L U T I O N G U I D E

Performance and reliability issues severely impact an online gamers experience and
compromise their ability to interact with online friends. As the number of gamers per
shard increases, so does latency within traditional MMGs. To avoid long delays to
attach to popular game servers or the need to log in and out of MMG levels, developers
must restrict the size of game worlds per serverwhich limits the players experience
and satisfaction level in another way.
To allow online games to evolve into a profitable and mature market, a cost-effective,
scalable, high-performance, and reliable infrastructure is desperately needed.
Butterfly.net, faced with the architectural challenge that the MMG market presented,
turned to Intel Architecture and grid computing.

Balancing Architecture Decisions

As early as July 2000, Butterfly.net began to study the problems associated with develop-
ing and deploying online games. Grid computingan emerging technology already used
successfully by the scientific and financial communitiesseemed promising. Grid
computing is essentially a network of servers acting as one supercomputer for intensive
To allow online games

to evolve into a profitable

distributed data processing. Butterfly.net thought that grid computing technology
and mature market,
applied over the Internet could be used to develop an architecture and approach for
using the Internet as a high-performance game machine. a cost-effective, scalable,
Grid computing has the potential to revolutionize the way online games are developed, high-performance, and
distributed, and played. If a server goes offlineas in distributed data processingthe
grids self-healing properties seamlessly route game play to the nearest available reliable infrastructure
server, resulting in a more satisfying experience for gamers.
is desperately needed.
The team at Butterfly.net realized that to be as efficient and reliable as other broad-
casting industries, they would have to architect a distributed, multicast-mesh over user
datagram protocol (UDP) that provided load-balanced and distributed computing

globallywhile maintaining a competitive cost structure for the MMG community.
Given the complexity of the project, Butterfly.net also realized that whatever platform
they ultimately selected, it would have to support a development and production model
that used standard protocols, standard products, and open source technologies.
These factors ultimately resulted in three key architecture choices:
Intel Xeon processor-based systems
Blade server technology
Linux* as the core operating system
Intel Xeon processors enable the higher transaction rates and fast response times
needed to optimally serve high transaction volume messaging and complex, highly
graphical, responsive gaming applications. Use of high-performance Intel Architecture
ensures that the servers have the power, performance, and reliability necessary for
such applications. In addition, Intel Xeon processors support a broad choice of inter-
operable, flexible hardware and software building blocks to customize and optimize
game development and server infrastructure. The scalability of the hardware platform
ensures a long-term upgrade path and capacity for expansion.

3
 T E C H N I C A L S O L U T I O N G U I D E

Blade server technology is a high-density computing power packaging technology

that is well suited to Web serving, caching, load balancing, streaming media, and
firewall protection.
Linux is a UNIX* work-alike operating system created by Linus Torvalds and a
motivated, active group of programmers who united via the Internet. Thanks to years
of source code fine-tuning by this group of dedicated volunteers, Linux has achieved
enterprise-class reliability, ease of administration, and outstanding performance. Linux
delivers more speed and power from the hardware (especially Intel Architecture, on
which it was originally developed), provides better security than many commercial
alternatives, and is very reliable.
Many developers in the online gaming community have switched to application devel-
opment on Linux-based systems. Because the Butterfly.net system was designed so that
it can be hosted by independent service providers (ISPs) as well as by Butterfly.net,
the decision also had to be balanced by what these solution providers could deploy
and support.
Maximizing the way online games are developed, deployed, and distributed keeps the
accessibility and cost of playing these games down. Based on all of this, Butterfly.net
thought that this software and hardware combination would be a natural, progressive
choice for them.
Along with the hardware and operating decisions, Butterfly.net also examined approaches
for effectively scaling and distributing system resources on-demand using the grid for
game development. For instance, access to computing resources on demand allows
game developers to avoid huge up-front infrastructure investment costs. The same is
true for initial testing and game deployment. Because the grid can scale with a released
games growing user base, scaling the game on a grid allows both developers and
producers to keep their cost structure relatively predictable.

Maximizing the way

online games are

The grids usage-based cost structure increases return on investment (ROI) for game
developers, and allows greater pricing flexibility for mass-market adoption, faster
time-to-market, and quicker volume delivery.

developed, deployed, The grid that Butterfly.net developed provides a way to use both technology and
operational investments on the same platform. When fully deployed, the Butterfly
and distributed keeps grid architecture can support over one million simultaneous players without
compromising performance.
the accessibility and

cost of playing these

games down.

4
T E C H N I C A L S O L U T I O N G U I D E

The grid that Butterfly.net

developed provides a way

to use both technology and

operational investments

on the same platform.

The Buterfly Grid Architecture

5
 T E C H N I C A L S O L U T I O N G U I D E

Under the Hood: Closer to the Metal

As mentioned earlier, game developers call the art of optimizing code for a particular
game platform getting close to the metal. Optimizing a game and getting close to
the metal when the game is on a self-contained computing device, such as a personal
computer, console, or arcade machine, is a different challenge than writing tight code
for an MMG, which must support hundreds, thousands, and even millions of gamers
interacting with one another and with non-player characters (NPCs) over the Internet.
Some of the MMG development considerations are:
The various client devices, the servers, and the network
The location where game logic is executed: on the clients machine or on the server
The timing of updates for the clients and the servers
The timing for writing to the database
The timing and location of information storage
All of these must be balanced to provide optimal game play.
These challenges in designing and building MMGs resulted in Butterfly.net building
an innovative MMG platform that allows developers to get close to the metaleven
when that metal is scattered throughout the world and across the Internet.
As gamers and software engineers, they believe that the only way for MMGs to enter
the mass market as a popular medium along with film, television, books, magazines,

Optimizing a game and

getting close to the metal is

and radio, is for game designers to have a platform to write to, and for the platform
to meet the following key requirements:
Utterly reliable
a different challenge Infinitely scalable
Absolutely secure
than writing tight code
Industry standard
for an MMG.

High performance
Maximally efficient
Exceptionally entertaining

Utterly Reliable
To create a truly reliable system, the servers themselves must be hot swappable. If a
server is taken offline, another server must be ready and able to take its place. If a hosting
center or a section of the Internet is not available, connections to the game must be
re-routed to a new set of resources. This must be unnoticeable to the gamer. Reliability
dictates that the game architecture be fully distributed, and that the data that comprises
a persistent state be instantiated from many different databases into many different
game servers and written back to redundant data-stores as game play progresses.
Reliability also dictates that the processes by which game play is distributed among
servers be automated. System administrators can be reacting to changes in game play
and looking for resources to acquire. A truly autonomic computing infrastructure is
required. These requirements led to the selection of hot-swappable blade technology
based on Intel Xeon processor architecture.

6
 T E C H N I C A L S O L U T I O N G U I D E

Infinitely Scalable
Todays games are not built to easily scale. Most game publishers simply replicate worlds
on multiple systems to create scale. This inevitably leads to problems because MMOG
players are then bound to specific game servers, with each server able to support only
a finite number of players at any one time. The games themselves do not truly scale,
A fully distributed game

infrastructure scales by
the systems merely do.
allowing the game to acquire
Currently game operators have the choice of building large-scale infrastructures to
support anticipated player numbers. Building infrastructure represents a large initial more computing resources
investment that is at risk if the game does not attract the expected audience. Worse, as needed.
if the game attracts more players than anticipated, inadequate systems may not be able
to handle peak loads or over-subscription periods, which could result in poor game
performance or worse, a halt altogether.

A fully distributed game infrastructure, such as the Butterfly grid, scales by allowing
the game to acquire more computing resources as needed, and by flexibly dividing up
game play, to best take advantage of the systems available. On the Butterfly grid, the
game world is not replicated on the servers, but portions of the world are placed on
different servers so that the game itself scales.
The server infrastructure itself can be heterogeneous. Many 1U rack-mounted Intel
Xeon processor servers can inexpensively be added to the grid, as well as powerful
computer clusters or high-end servers based on Intel Xeon processors using blade
technology. The scaling model that makes the most sense for the operations team
can be accommodated. While a developer can still segment players and games into
shards, it should not be mandatory because of server constraints. A single shard can
run across many servers so that resources can be allocated to the area that requires the
most processing power.

A Fully Distributed Game Infrastructure

7
 T E C H N I C A L S O L U T I O N G U I D E

Absolutely Secure
Security involves three things:
Authentication
Authorization
Accounting
The Butterfly grid uses several security protocols, including a 128-bit session message
digest that can only be generated by an authentic client (one with both the session key

The game industry

is a long way from

and the account password). Rules enforcement is handled on the server, ensuring that
players do not cheat by hacking into the system.

Industry Standard
standardization, but the The game industry is a long way from standardization, but the Butterfly grid is a step
in the right direction. Using a set of supportable industry standards and architecting
Butterfly* grid is a step in
a distributed computing system specifically for games that takes advantage of standard
the right direction. components, games are designed and optimized for that system. The distributed infra-

structure becomes the platform that the game developer writes to, rather than writing
to the specifications of the edge device. They are working with the Global Grid Forum
and use Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) components to ensure that any
game that conforms to open standards and publicly available specifications operates
over the Butterfly grid.

High Performance
The Butterfly grid is optimized for online gaming in several ways. The dead reckoning
systems ensure that communications among clients and servers only occur when a
model is not synchronized with others. The game developer controls the level of toler-
ance that triggers communication and resynchronization. In a first-person shooting,
racing, or other action game, the objects can update each other frequently, and the game
developer limits the number of objects within an area of interest. In an epic adventure,
role-playing, or strategy game where thousands of players may be in one area, the dead
reckoning models can be set to support an appropriate level of tolerance.
Dedicated servers within the grid run artificial intelligence as well. Games with lots of
intelligent creatures can dedicate resources to running those creatures without bogging
down the game servers. In addition, the network protocol stack itself is based on UDP
with a thin reliability layer for optimal performance.
UDP sends each datagram in the Butterfly grid as an individual unit with no connection
to other units that it sends. In contrast, TCP would send a stream of data, which is
interconnected to the preceding and following packet. A packet of TCP data is not sent
until receipt of the preceding packet has been acknowledged by the receiver. After a
delay, it resends the missing packet thus ensuring the entire message gets through.
While this is a highly efficient model in a normal data-driven Internet protocol-based
network, this can cause problems in a distributed game environment. TCP ensures
that packet loss does not occur, but at the price of a heavy communications overhead,
because any transmission loss necessitates the retransmission of the data. This inevitably
leads to real-time delays in the transmission, which in gaming scenarios appear to
the player as jitter.

8
 T E C H N I C A L S O L U T I O N G U I D E

UDP largely circumvents the connection setup process, flow control, and retransmission
problem. UDP-based grids allow the sender to specify both the source and destination
port numbers for their message. Coupled with a calculation of the checksum on both
the data and header, this allows both the sending and receiving applications to ensure
the correct delivery of a message without the overhead TCP imposes. In the Butterfly
grid architecture, the player is a known, proxied entity, and so managing source and
destination information can be efficiently handled using UDP. Transmissions between
the player and grid components are more instantaneous, and thus preferable.

Maximally Efficient
The Butterfly grid is exceptionally efficient, allowing the game to allocate resources
to the areas that need them the most. All server code is highly optimized C and C++
for Linux and client code hand-tooled to the various edge devices (such as PS2,
Microsoft* Windows*-based computers, and Microsoft PocketPC-based devices).
In an MMG, its not enough to optimize the network protocol stack, the client code,
and the server code; all three systems must be synchronized and work together for
the best overall effect. That effect also depends on the game itself. With the Butterfly
grid, the game developer controls the clients, the server, the gateway, the artificial
intelligence engines, and the database management system, and can make the most
intelligent trade-offs to optimize the gaming experience, while using the fewest
resources (client processor, bandwidth, and server capacity) overall.

Exceptionally Entertaining
Architecture requirements led Butterfly.net first to a fully distributed architecture, then
to grid computing, and finally, to the Butterfly grid. With this platform, developers
could finally optimize code for the Internet itself, creating games that incite,
confound, baffle, delight, and amuse gamers.
The Butterfly* grid

architecture has the potential

to fundamentally change the

Fully-Meshed Metal
The Butterfly grid architecture has the potential to fundamentally change the online online gaming community,
gaming community, and change the way online games were developed and deployed. and change the way online
Today, developers work on multiple platforms and then deploy on others. Leveraging
network costs over multiple titles rarely happens today. Developers focus on one game, games were developed
and have yet to provide an acquiring publisher with a way to share capacity, and thus
and deployed.
cost, across numerous titles.
To overcome these challenges, a solution needs to:
Provide code optimization levels that developers are used to working with.

Be game-agnostic.
Offer open-source flexibility for certain aspects of the system, such as the
network protocol stack, cross-server message sources and sinks, state
management systems for the server and network, gateways to transfer players
from one server to another seamlessly and transparently, and the artificial
intelligence subsystems. The open source Linux operating system was chosen
to satisfy this requirement.

9
 T E C H N I C A L S O L U T I O N G U I D E

To create a software system architecture that responds to these challenges, Butterfly.net

had to decide whether to create the architecture entirely themselves, or integrate portions
of it from existing services and focus on adding value for the MMG market. They
selected the latter approach and added value by creating sophisticated software structures
to support MMG within a grid.
Linux was the chosen operating system. Butterfly.net also developed a middleware
application server core that could support multiple functions within the software
architecture. Besides connecting to the systems back-end database, which held all of
the games relevant data, the middleware core also had to maintain user persistence
within the games world.
Butterflys middleware core is based on a C or C++ architecture, highly optimized for
the Intel architecture platformand specifically the Intel Xeon processorfor all in-game

Butterfly.net developed

a middleware application
functions. Business functions and grid interfaces are wrapped in Java*, with a Java-
based messaging system for process management. They also incorporated a Java 2
Enterprise Edition (J2EE*) application server, which provided them with a sophisticated
engine to handle real-time transaction volumes as users traversed worlds and shards.
server core that could
Each mesh is connected over grid-compliant protocols to add services and computing
support multiple functions capacity on demand. The Globus Toolkit*, a reference implementation of OGSA,
provides the following services:
within the software
Security
architecture.

Authorization
Authentication
File transfer
Access to secondary storage
Web-services bindings
Meta-computing directory service
Other standard utility services
The Butterfly.net Game Configuration Specification is an extensible markup language-
remote procedure called (XML-RPC) Web Services Description Language (WSDL)
binding, which is used by the toolkit to configure resources to support specific games.

Fully-Meshed Architecture
of the Butterfly Grid

10
 T E C H N I C A L S O L U T I O N G U I D E

OGSA 3.0 Toolkit is a community-based, open-architecture, open-source set of services

and software libraries that support computing grids and grid applications. Butterflys
use of specific toolkit components that are most relevant in their grid design include
the grid resource allocation and management (GRAM) protocol and its gatekeeper
service, which provides for secure, reliable service creation and management. The
meta directory service (MDS-2) provides for information discovery through soft state
registration, data modeling, and a local registry (called the GRAM reporter). The grid
security infrastructure (GSI) supports single sign-on, delegation, and credential mapping.
The GRAM protocols mechanisms are used for authentication, authorization, and
credential delegation to remote computations within the grids distributed application
base. A two-phase commit protocol is used for reliable invocation, and service creation
is handled by a small, trusted gatekeeper process. The GRAM reporter monitors and
publishes information about the identity and state of local computations using a
The Globus Toolkit

allows Butterfly.net to
registry within the grid.
monitor servers and
MDS-2 provides a uniform framework for discovering and accessing system
configuration and status information such as: distributes the processing
Compute server configuration
needs of more popular
Network status
Locations of replicated datasets within the grid hierarchy games and populated

MDS-2 uses a soft-state protocol for lifetime management of published information. areas to idle computing

The public key-based grid security infrastructure (GSI) protocol provides MMOG resources within the
players with single sign-on authentication, communication protection, and some initial
data center.

support for restricted delegation. Single sign-on authentication allows a user to establish
who they are once. The grid architecture then creates a proxy credential that it uses to
establish the users identity with any remote service on the users behalf.
This is especially useful as gamers traverse shards and worlds within the grid itself,
which can be physically distributed across a mesh of systems in differing geographies.
Credential delegation allows for the creation and communication to a remote service of
delegated proxy credentials that the remote service can use to act on the users behalf
perhaps with various restrictions; this capability is important for nested operations.
The Globus Toolkit is the standard for grid-based sharing of online resources across
organizations. It allows Butterfly.net to monitor servers and distributes the processing
needs of more popular games and populated areas to idle computing resources within
the data center. The key network protocol stack (NPS) is a thin reliability layer on UDP
that connects edge devices to the gateways, which transparently relay information to
the correct server.
Butterfly also uses multicast communications to all servers subscribed in the grid to
create a fully meshed, multicast network during real-time game play. Additionally,
each mesh is connected over grid-compliant protocols to add services and computing
capacity, as needed, using OGSA components.

11
 T E C H N I C A L S O L U T I O N G U I D E

Playing Games on the Grid:

Architecture Components and Interaction
The Butterfly grid connects personal computers, notebooks, Pocket PCs, Palm*-compatible
handhelds, and next-generation 128-bit consoles in one seamless world. An innovative
packet transport protocol provides fast, balanced game play over broadband, dial-up,
and mobile Internet connections for unique multi-channel interactions.
From the perspective of a game player, the software runs, the user log-on appears, and
then the universe of the game opens. No shards, artificial constraints, or boundaries
are visible. It appears seamless to the player, and whenever something seems seamless,
you can bet that complicated actions are taking place behind the scene. That is the
Butterfly grid. The magic takes place in the interaction between the protocol stack on
the client, the gateway to which the user is connected, and the fully meshed server grid.
The Butterfly grid architecture is an n-tiered system incorporating multiple tiers,
front to back.
The client libraries and their application programming interface (API) embodiment,
called the object management system (OMS), comprise the first tier of the architecture.
This tier is the window into the shared environment.
The client software renders data that has been translated to inherent protocols and
supplied by the middle tier. Using the Butterfly network protocol stack, client software
accesses system information via OMS, which is the interface to various server layers
within the grid.
The middle, or gateway tier, translates the data objects and communications protocols
into forms that are understood by the users platform (PS2, Microsoft Windows-based

The Butterfly* grid

connects personal
computers, and Microsoft PocketPC-based devices). It also handles and translates the
interactions, changes, and actions of these game objects to communications protocols
that are understood by the end-users client platform. On a sufficiently complex or
powerful platform, this layer can be thin. On more modest platforms, this layer may
computers, notebooks,
be complex and could involve different translations, where certain data elements are
Pocket PCs, Palm*- parsed out and not transmitted to the end client.
The back-end tier is the data store and server. This layer provides the embodiment of
compatible handhelds,
the game as it is defined by the game rules and logic, the objects and attributes that
and next-generation comprise the game environment, and objects that represent the players themselves as
they are involved in game play.
128-bit consoles in one
Going in the other direction, game software provides natural interfaces for performing
seamless world. actions. These game actions are captured by the OMS, which in turn sends the infor-

mation to the middle tier. The middle tier translates the information and communicates
with the back-end tier, and re-distributes information to other client platforms, as
appropriate to the game design.

12
 T E C H N I C A L S O L U T I O N G U I D E

Butterfly Hosts Software Architecture

of Butterfly* Grid Hosts
Host 1
Gateway
Session Manager Session Threads Database
UDP Packets Network Protocol Database
Stack (NPS) Template Host 3
Daemon Controller
Object Manager
UDP Packets
Network Protocol
Stack (NPS)
Host 2
Game Server
Game 1 Manager Game 1 Threading Object Threads
UDP Packets Network Protocol Database Database
Stack (NPS) Template Database
Template

Game 2 Manager Game 2 Threading

UDP Packets Network Protocol Database Database
Stack (NPS) Template

The gateway servers translate the data objects and communications protocols to forms
that are understood by the users platform and routes player connections to game servers.
The daemon controllers are dedicated artificial intelligence servers that drive the
activities of non-player characters (NPCs). NPCs are game elements not directly
controlled by player actions. They are essentially privileged clients that act like
players and interact directly with the grids gateway servers.
The game servers are responsible for running games within the grid. They manage the
game as it is defined by the game rules and logic, the objects and attributes that comprise
the game environment, and objects that represent the players themselves as they are
involved in game play. The intelligence that determines when players are shifted to new
servers resides on both the game and gateway servers. When a game server becomes
overused or fails, it sends a controlling message to the gateway servers. The gateway
servers are ultimately responsible for redirecting players to a new game server.
The intelligence that

determines when players are

shifted to new servers

The database server stores the persistent information required to define the worlds
and objects, and maintain game play over time. resides on both the game
The network protocol stack is a thin reliability layer on UDP that connects edge
and gateway servers.
devices to the gateways, which transparently relay on to the correct server. NPS is also
used for real-time game play across server boundaries.
A multicast communication link connects game servers that are participating in the
same game. These servers are fully meshed during real-time game play.
The utility computing layer is the lowest level of the infrastructure, monitoring the
performance of the hardware and redirecting resources as required.

13
 T E C H N I C A L S O L U T I O N G U I D E

Mobile Intel Pentium III Processor-M

Intel XScale Technology

Mobile Intel Pentium 4 Processor-M
Butterfly* Grid
Hardware Representation

Mobile Intel Pentium 4 Processor-M

Internet

Firewall

Administration Workstation

Intel Xeon Processor-Based Servers

When client software GbE Connections

Gateway Servers
connects to the system, it
Intel Xeon Processor-Based Servers

can connect to any gateway Daemon Controllers

that is in service.

Intel Xeon Processors MP

Game
Servers

Intel Xeon Processor-Based Servers System Database Servers

When client software connects to the system, it can connect to any gateway that is in
service. After authentication and authorization, the gateway translator acts as a proxy
for the client to the back-end server. Multiple servers, each responsible for managing a
segment of the environment can be used.
If in the course of using the system, the participants state changes in such a way that
they need to be served from a different server, a move request is transmitted to the
gateway (a request that is generated by the server), at which point the gateway begins
its proxy communications with the new server.
Whats important is that as player state changes, and the gateway proxies the player
to a different server, that server could physically be located in an entirely different
geography or locale. Because the grid is a mesh, and that mesh is logically connected
to other systems within the grid architecture, players can access grid components that
are not physically located in the same place. Of course, this process is transparent to
the end client device or user. A player does not even know it is happening.

14
 T E C H N I C A L S O L U T I O N G U I D E

The grid allocates resources based on usage, liberating game aficionados from server-
bound game play. Once adopted on a global scale, the Butterfly grid will replace the
far less efficient current online infrastructure and provide an open, scalable,
high-performance environment that delivers responsive, reliable gaming action.

Summarizing Butterflys Grid Architecture

The Butterfly grid is a powerful, innovative commercial computing development and
distribution platform for the video game industry. An end-to-end solution for online
video game developers, publishers, and service providers, the Butterfly grid can run
multiple games and serve millions of gamers simultaneouslydrawing resources from
The Butterfly* grid delivers

strong ROI benefits through

geographically dispersed servers and providing unprecedented gaming responsiveness. cost savings fueled by more
The Butterfly grid delivers strong ROI benefits through cost savings fueled by more
efficient use of computing
efficient use of computing resources and an increase in strategic flexibility. By relying
on a grid-based MMP platform, game developers can avoid huge up-front infrastructure resources and an increase in
costs and procure only the computing resources that they need. This provides developers
with significantly more latitude to pursue other flexible pricing and distribution models. strategic flexibility.
Game developers find the grid offers an innovative way to build action, strategy, role-
playing, simulation, and adventure games on a universal platform. Because the grid

is engine-agnostic, it allows for more integration for both off-the-shelf and custom
game engines.
Butterfly.net offers a unique license program that allows real-time prototyping on a
live server grid with full bandwidth, simulation, and load testing. It allows developers
to build games in a cost-effective, high-performance environment and provides the
basis on the client side for processing the rules of play, individual players avatars, and
so on, through the thousands of end-user devices tied into the grid at any given moment.
Thanks to Intel architecture on the end-user side, the developer knows that when the code
is written, tested, and deployed, the player experience will match what the developer
had in mind. The Butterfly grid is rapidly becoming the global infrastructure for online
games3. Service providers are adopting it to manage their resources more efficiently
and create new revenue streams. Publishers are using it to leverage their technology
investment while increasing profits, and developers are adopting the grid to build
games quickly and economically without artificial server constraints. But the real
driving force behind the Butterfly grids growing popularity is the demand by gamers
for a more realistic, fully immersive online experience.

3
Intel Business Center Case Study, Butterfly.net Uses Intel Architecture to Build a Global Gaming Grid, Pg.1, Copyright 2003, Intel Corporation

15
 www.intel.com/go/digitalmedia

Intel, the Intel and Intel Inside logos, Pentium, XScale, Centrino and Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its
subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.
Copyright 2003 Intel Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Information regarding third party products is provided solely for educational
purposes. Intel is not responsible for the performance or support of third party products and does not make any representations or warranties
whatsoever regarding quality, reliability, functionality, or compatibility of these devices or products. 251853001