Alcatel-Lucent and Vivox transform online gaming
Announcement posted by Alcatel-Lucent 10 May 2007
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) and Vivox today announced a collaborative effort to deliver real-time audio to Vivox’s leading global online gaming customers via Alcatel-Lucent’s OmniTouch Advanced Communications Server (ACS), the same underlying server that supports OmniTouch My Teamwork. This powerful, SIP-based server provides a scalable and robust communications platform to support tens of thousands of users within the Vivox Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming (MMOG) community with high-quality voice interaction.
Vivox chose the Alcatel-Lucent solution to help transform their virtual gaming experience for players, raising it to a higher level. The addition of voice communications reflects a real-time physical world where players interact with each other in a natural and expressive way. Previously, communication vehicles like email and IM were used, but limited the playing experience, especially in games with a social structure.
With the Alcatel-Lucent OmniTouch ACS solution, Vivox immerses voice within the game and brings MMOGs to the next level. Players remain “inside” the game to communicate and the result is a high-quality, realistic experience for players, with voice technology finally matching the superior graphics and complex storylines typical of MMOGs.
Vivox also realized significant business and operational benefits with the deployment of the OmniTouch ACS platform. It is open, easily extensible and offers industry-standard XML and SIP-based APIs (Application Programming Interface) that support the rapid creation of multimedia Internet-enabled applications. By taking advantage of the customized voice and functional interface capabilities inherent in OmniTouch ACS, Vivox reduced its time to market, offering a fully featured voice application in 10 months.
Due to its deployment flexibility, reliability and scalability, OmniTouch ACS is well suited to support large online communities, scaling from ten to thousands of users and easily accommodating the rapid growth of player populations. Its distributed architecture and multi-tenancy capability allow Vivox to support multiple games and communities around the world. Currently, Vivox supports over one million users in 180 countries, including players of the MMOG EVE Online from CCP Games. In addition, the entirely software and standards-based solution—which eliminates specialized hardware—is a cost-effective solution for both Vivox and their customers.
“Live voice is essential to realizing the full potential of online communities. Alcatel-Lucent has been a tremendous partner in our work in enriching this important environment,” said Jim Toga, COO of Vivox. “By partnering with Alcatel-Lucent, Vivox is supporting its global online community with fewer restrictions, greater ease of use and superior quality.”
“The combined technology implementation of Alcatel-Lucent and Vivox has allowed us to better connect the universe of players in EVE Online,” said Nathan Richardsson, Senior Producer of CCP Games. “Corporations, groups and alliances are able to communicate freely bringing a new level of sophistication to our games. EVE Online requires a high degree of coordination and collaboration, particularly during intense space battles. Players using voice definitely have an advantage when it comes to teamwork.”
”We are pleased that Vivox has chosen our OmniTouch ACS solution as the platform for their integrated voice services offering to their global gaming customers. The technology is uniquely suited to bring new and innovative services to market quickly, and the massively multiplayer online gaming environment is a prime example,” said Jamie Kistler, Vice President of Alcatel-Lucent’s Enterprise Applications and Program Management activities. “We feel strongly that OmniTouch ACS has great potential to impact not only online gaming but other online communities as well.”
About Vivox, Inc.
Vivox provides online games, virtual worlds and online communities with managed voice communication services that are simple to integrate and enhance gameplay and community. Vivox’s carrier-grade, customizable solutions help online games and communities create improved offerings and extend their user base. Today, Vivox is bringing voice to approximately one million subscribers in more than 180 countries. For more information visit http://www.vivox.com.
About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) provides solutions that enable service providers, enterprises and governments worldwide, to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. As a leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP technologies, applications, and services, Alcatel-Lucent offers the end-to-end solutions that enable compelling communications services for people at home, at work and on the move. With operations in more than 130 countries, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with global reach. The company has the most experienced global services team in the industry, and one of the largest research, technology and innovation organizations in the telecommunications industry. Alcatel-Lucent achieved adjusted proforma revenues of Euro 18.3 billion in 2006 and is incorporated in , with executive offices located in
Alcatel-Lucent Press Contacts
| Régine Coqueran | Tel :+ 33 (0)1 40 76 49 24 | regine.coqueran@alcatel-lucent.com |
| Alix Cavallari | Tel :+ 33 (0)1 40 76 16 58 | alix.cavallari@alcatel-lucent.com |
Alcatel-Lucent Investor Relations
| Pascal Bantegnie | Tel: +33 (0)1 40 76 52 20 | pascal.bantegnie@alcatel-lucent.com |
| Maria Alcon | Tel: +33 (0)1 40 76 15 17 | maria.alcon@alcatel-lucent.com |
| John DeBono | Tel: + 1908-582-7793 |