LOS ANGELES, May 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Online Entertainment Inc., a
worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online gaming, announced at the
Electronic Entertainment Expo show here today that it has chosen AT&T as its
hosting provider for the European portion of the global expansion of its
"EverQuest"(R) game.
AT&T has provided hosting services for "EverQuest," the world's No. 1
multiplayer online game, in the United States since its initial release in
1999. Through the expanded agreement, AT&T will now host the game from its
Internet Data Centers (IDCs) in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The
decision to bring "EverQuest" to these cities was driven by the rising demand
among the game's ever-growing user base within Europe.
Hosting the site from multiple locations reduces bottlenecks, enables
faster game-play and lets Sony Online localize the game to native languages,
improving the overall user experience for the more than 430,000 global
players. The success of this approach is illustrated by the fact that the
U.K. site alone now serves more than 2,000 simultaneous gamers daily and the
Amsterdam site is growing daily as well.
"Expanding our global online gaming community has been a top priority
since day one," said John Smedley, chief operating officer, Sony Online
Entertainment. "With more and more 'EverQuest' gamers coming online, we
needed a hosting provider that could guarantee superior performance. AT&T's
rock-solid hosting infrastructure enables us to now deliver the best possible
gaming experience for hundreds of thousands of players around the world."
"The fact that Sony Online, one of our long-standing hosting clients, has
chosen us for their global expansion is quite a testament to the scalability
and reliability of AT&T hosting services," said Robin Young, senior vice
president for Managed Services in AT&T Business. "As demand for Sony Online's
industry-leading games continues to grow, we'll be there delivering the
highest levels of performance to ensure the gamers keep coming back."
AT&T IDCs directly link to AT&T's high-performing global IP backbone,
providing ample bandwidth for the game and delivering maximum speed and
performance to end users. Dedicated AT&T engineers are onsite at the IDCs to
ensure "EverQuest" gamers enjoy a rich experience regardless of user demand.
"EverQuest" continues to grow with top-selling expansions "The Ruins of
Kunark" and "The Scars of Velious" and most recently, "EverQuest: The Shadows
of Luclin"(TM). With new player features and improved graphics, "EverQuest:
The Shadows of Luclin" is the latest and most extensive expansion pack yet
offered. During peak periods, more than 99,000 adventurers and dragon slayers
have explored the world of Norrath simultaneously.
Over the past 12 months, Sony Online Entertainment has actively expanded
its international presence. The Station(R) (http://www.station.com ), a
leading online gaming destination, is now translated into Japanese, French and
German. Station.com, which now boasts more than 40 fun-filled games,
effortless navigation, and an easy-to-use interface, attracts more than 12
million gamers for the best in online gaming.
About Sony Online Entertainment Inc.
Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), the online gaming division of Sony
Pictures Digital Entertainment, is a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer
online gaming that creates, develops and provides online entertainment for the
personal computer, console, wireless, and online markets. With more than 13
million registered users, SOE's award-winning website, The Station (R)
(http://www.station.com ) hosts a variety of entertaining games and player
communities spanning numerous genres. In addition to blockbuster hits
EverQuest(R) and Jeopardy! Online, SOE has an array of cutting-edge online
games in development such as PlanetSide(TM), Star Wars(R) Galaxies(TM),
EverQuest(R) II, and the world's premier online-only console game for the
PlayStation(R)2, EverQuest(R) Online Adventures(TM).
About AT&T
AT&T (http://www.att.com ) is among the world's premier voice, video and
data communications companies, serving consumers, businesses and government.
Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, the company
runs the largest, most sophisticated communications network and is the largest
cable operator in the U.S. The company is a leading supplier of data, Internet
and managed services for the public and private sectors, and offers
outsourcing, consulting and networking-integration to large businesses and
government.
Managed services are central to AT&T's overall business strategy for
enterprise customers. AT&T Managed Services consist of integrated offer
portfolios -- including, Enterprise VPNs, Hosting, High Availability and
Security Services -- that are combined with the seamless support of AT&T's
integrated Global Enterprise Management System (iGEMS), which provides
proactive and predictive networking-management capabilities.
AT&T Managed Services address the interdependency of networking, hosting
and businesses' needs for reliability, security and recovery. They simplify
the network complexity and operational challenges faced by companies while
allowing them to easily extend their networks to customers, suppliers and
partners.
AT&T Managed Services can encompass access service options; hosting;
virtual private networks (VPNs); content distribution; managed wide-area
networks (WAN); enhanced transport maintenance; networked computing services;
business continuity and security services.
AT&T 'Safe Harbor'
The foregoing are "forward-looking statements" which are based on
management's beliefs as well as on a number of assumptions concerning future
events made by and information currently available to management. Readers are
cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which
are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of
uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside AT&T's control,
that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. For
a more detailed description of the factors that could cause such a difference,
please see AT&T's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AT&T
disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise. This information is presented solely to provide additional
information to further understand the results of AT&T.
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SOURCE AT&T
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Related links:
http://www.att.com
http://www.station.com
Photo Notes:http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991018/ATT
CONTACT:
Christy Fritts of Sony Online Entertainment,
Inc., +1-858-577-3295 (office), +1-858-442-9570 (wireless), or
cfritts@soe.sony.com; or Chris Szodoray of AT&T, +1-908-658-6774
(office), +1-877-672-8205 (wireless), or cszodoray@att.com
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