Networking brings new quality to online sales and online gaming services

Lichfield – 06 December 2011 – One of Britain’s largest video games developers Codemasters has chosen NextiraOne, Europe’s leading expert in communications services, to deliver the physical networking infrastructure that enables the company to support its software and games developers with high quality, high performance communications.

NextiraOne has delivered a physical infrastructure and cabling solution for the refurbishment of the company’s Birmingham site. NextiraOne’s Unified Building Services Division helped Codemasters to upgrade and improve its Birmingham facilities to a very demanding specification which includes at least 5 access points per desk to allow software and games developers to be able to simultaneously run a variety of equipment, including PCs and consoles, from their desktops. 

Founded in 1986, Codemasters is a developer and worldwide publisher of entertainment software for PCs, consoles and online applications.  As one of the largest gaming companies in Britain Codemasters publishes for all gaming platforms including the Xbox 360 and Playstation®3 including the BAFTA Award-winning Race Driver: GRID and F1 2010.

NextiraOne designed and installed a cabling infrastructure based on Category 6 cabling to provide the high performance communications required for the specific environment for video and online games. Over 100 developers work in the Birmingham office and each has at least 5 access points. NextiraOne also provided racking solutions for the new communications room, including APC Netshelter racks for the servers and a CPI racking solution, specifically required by Codemasters because of its highly efficient use of space and excellent cable management. The unusually large number of points/cables per desk required by Codemasters meant that the patching density is higher than average and this makes cable management a critical element.

Codemasters Software Ltd’s IT Director, Jonathan Humphrey, said: “We chose NextiraOne because of the company’s extensive Cisco expertise initially but we have been very impressed with the quality of the cabling and infrastructure service provided by NextiraOne’s Unified Building Services team. We are especially pleased with the flexibility the team displayed in creating the solutions that we needed for our somewhat unusual and demanding environment. They have far exceeded our expectations in quality of delivery and attention to detail.”

NextiraOne’s Unified Building Services Division specialises in the physical infrastructure of communications environments including Data Centres, communications and server rooms. The company worked closely with Codemasters to develop a tailored physical infrastructure solution to meet the company’s needs in the Birmingham office and to match and improve on the infrastructure in the company’s other sites.

Peter Smith, Head of Practice at NextiraOne’s Unified Building Services, said: “The processing power and networking speeds necessary for the development of video games at Codemasters made the networking and cabling a much more critical element of the business than usual. We already have a high reputation for our physical infrastructure services and were able to rise to the challenge. We knew that the quality of our service was of paramount importance and our team delivered in every respect.”