Reduce latency, jitter, and packet loss with SP// VMs and Network Next

Network Next is a cloud networking company whose mission is to make high-performance cloud networks accessible to everyone.

Industry

Game Technology Provider

Use Cases

Cloud Networking and SaaS Hosting

About Network Next

Network Next links networks together in a radically new way. It is a new Internet, one where best-effort delivery isn’t good enough, and where thousands of private networks compete on performance to carry traffic. The Network Next service employs revolutionary technology—application-driven traffic engineering—to improve reliability and performance without requiring any special network protocol skills or experience. Network Next puts developers in control and ensures premium cloud network performance is accessible to every development team.

Key Takeaways

Games demand stable, high-performance, low-latency networks to ensure the best online experience for their players. StackPath’s edge infrastructure and diverse network provide a high-performance and consistent online experience to Network Next’s customers.

Situation

Network performance weighs down online game performance

The internet doesn’t care about games. It wasn’t constructed for applications that run in real-time like games and video chat. Players notice this whenever they play online games and get terrible network performance. Game developers would like to make the situation better for their customers but quickly discover that there is not much they can do to fix the problem. Games simply need more dependable network performance than public internet routes provide, and best-effort delivery just isn’t cutting it any more. Network Next believes the solution to better game performance requires a new radical approach — one that puts the game developer in control of the network.

“Flexible edge compute VMs, at a reasonable price, that leverage the StackPath network enable Network Next to redefine the performance and economics of real-time cloud networking.”
Glenn Fiedler • CEO, Network Next

Objective

Partner with premium suppliers to build a new diverse network

Network Next had a distinctive objective in mind—partnering with premium suppliers such as StackPath and creating a new network of networks with unmatched diversity. These partnerships provide numerous options for developers and their customers, so when one network is saturated, there are thousands of other ways to get player traffic from A to B.

Approach

Leverage StackPath’s private network and edge VMs to support game traffic

Instead of building special-purpose networks using traditional techniques, Network Next thought of a smarter and more efficient strategy. Realizing that private networks have excess capacity which can be used to boost in-game network performance, they partner with network builders and cloud service providers (such as StackPath) then broker network access based on quality, performance, and cost. For each player every few seconds, Network Next runs an algorithm on the marketplace to find the best route across supplier networks. The best network carries the player’s traffic until the process repeats, unless network performance degrades. The technology automatically switches to the best path. To use the Network Next service, developers need only integrate the Network Next SDK and access the marketplace – boosting their games’ network performance while remaining cost efficient.

Results

Significantly reduced latency, jitter, and packet loss

The Network Next vision, backed by StackPath’s edge computing technology, creates a better internet for its customers. StackPath’s continued investments into peering, interconnection arrangements, and high-quality edge compute infrastructure makes StackPath an ideal partner for Network Next.

StackPath’s edge computing resources offers the following benefits:

• Strong performance
  Using SP// VMs has significantly helped reduce latency, jitter, and packet loss for customers using the Network Next service, which supports a better user experience for players.
• Low latency
  SP// edge locations, available in most of the world’s most populous markets’, put compute closer to Network Next customers, providing ultra-low latency so end-user data can travel faster than with public cloud infrastructure. The private, dark-fiber network between SP// edge locations allows data to move safely and drastically faster than over the public internet.
• Developer friendly platform with flexible compute options
  StackPath’s Control Portal provides the ability to rapidly set up and deploy virtual machines with precision and control. The Control Portal also makes it easy and simple to monitor and measure the performance with built-in analytics, reports, and dashboards.
• 24×7 Support
  StackPath offers fast and full-time help without lengthy ticketing and resolution processes. Network Next experienced this first-hand and mentioned how the SP// team has been extremely proactive, user-friendly, and flexible, making setup and deployments quick and painless.

StackPath has helped Network Next deliver better digital experiences for our customers. Among our suppliers, StackPath is consistently in the top-performing group in many locations.”

Glenn Fiedler • CEO, Network Next