Download PDF
Global Gaming Company Leverages NETSCOUT’s PFS Technology to Secure and Monitor Gamers’ On‑Line Experience
Technology Category
- Cybersecurity & Privacy - Network Security
- Networks & Connectivity - Network Management & Analysis Software
Applicable Industries
- Consumer Goods
Applicable Functions
- Discrete Manufacturing
Use Cases
- Traffic Monitoring
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
The gaming company has experienced an increase in business during the current pandemic crisis, on top of their natural growth. Some of their data centers generate tens of millions of packets per second that need to be monitored by generating NetFlow data, and forwarding it to multiple security tools, as well as the custom network and application performance tools that have been developed in house. Current monitoring solutions did not provide complete visibility into all traffic. Appliances with much higher traffic capacity than the existing solution were required for NetFlow generation. High-volume participation in multi-player games can draw millions of unique customers. They also have intensive live support from their IT team on the customer facing network, so the packet broker solution needed to scale for many simultaneous staff users as well as with the different data center locations experiencing different growth rates on the customer side.
About The Customer
This publicly held entertainment company operates a gaming platform that serves many millions of online players around the world. The company focuses on developing and delivering the newest, most-popular, high-quality graphics games, including some renowned multi-player games that have fans all over the world. With data centers in a half-dozen cities around the globe, this company has been offering their customers a top-tier gaming platform, focused on the player’s experience, for many years.
The Solution
By deploying multiple nGenius PFXs and tapping and spanning at the appropriate places in the data centers, the entire multiterabit flow of traffic in each direction can be copied to the monitoring network. Then Packet Flow eXtender software (PFXs) can generate the NetFlow data which the IT staff and tools at the company were already expert at interpreting. The gaming company deployed multiple units of PFX which generate NetFlow data from over 50 million packets per second of traffic from a single data center. The PFS switches used load balancing to share the traffic load with multiple security tools, enabling these tools to be used to capacity and cost-effectively, but never oversubscribed. The PFSs also used a function called “Session Aware loadbalancing” to keep all packets flowing in each direction of a single user’s session together.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
Related Case Studies.
.png)
Case Study
Improving Vending Machine Profitability with the Internet of Things (IoT)
The vending industry is undergoing a sea change, taking advantage of new technologies to go beyond just delivering snacks to creating a new retail location. Intelligent vending machines can be found in many public locations as well as company facilities, selling different types of goods and services, including even computer accessories, gold bars, tickets, and office supplies. With increasing sophistication, they may also provide time- and location-based data pertaining to sales, inventory, and customer preferences. But at the end of the day, vending machine operators know greater profitability is driven by higher sales and lower operating costs.
Case Study
Series Production with Lot-size-1 Flexibility
Nobilia manufactures customized fitted kitchens with a lot size of 1. They require maximum transparency of tracking design data and individual processing steps so that they can locate a particular piece of kitchen furniture in the sequence of processes.
Case Study
American Eagle Achieves LEED with GE LED Lighting Fixtures
American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) was in the process of building a new distribution center. The AEO facility management team decided to look at alternate options for lighting layout that could provide energy and maintenance savings. AEO would need a full-time maintenance employee just to replace burned-out fluorescent tubes.
Case Study
Revolutionizing Rodent Control
From pet- and child-safe traps, to touch-free and live-catch rodent control solutions, Victor continues to stay committed to producing superior products that meet the varying needs of today’s pest control professionals. And, with a long standing history supporting customers in the food processing, service, and retail settings, Victor knew that strict regulations were costing organizations thousands of dollars in excess overhead trying to manage their rodent-control solutions. Trap inspections in these environments are often difficult and time consuming, requiring personnel to manually check a trap’s status multiple times per day, amounting to over six hours of manual labor. Victor is looking for an innovative way to increase operational efficiencies with the use of technology.
