Fergal McKenna, sales director of Manx Telecom, offers an expert view on the latest developments in i-gaming hosting.
Big Data
"Big data" refers to data sets so large that average computing tools can’t manage or process them. With companies’ IT computing needs growing like never before, small and mid-size businesses that used to host their hardware on-site, and large enterprises that previously ran their own data centres, are seeking new options to adapt to the emerging big data era.
Big data requires massive amounts of computing power, and your average company isn’t equipped to handle such specialised needs, meaning that managed service providers are stepping up to fill these gaps. Data centres are now being constructed tailored specifically to big data needs, and with the processing power for high-performance computing.
Companies will need to be prepared, if not now then in the next two-to-five years.
Virtualisation
Essentially, virtualisation can offer access to significant capacity without having to build or rent the equivalent physical infrastructure. Needless to say, this can also deliver considerable cost savings.
In our experience, those i-gaming customers who are evaluating or using virtualised systems see virtualisation not just as a way to ensure capacity and reliance, but also as a catalyst for the development and delivery of new products and services which are, as yet, still over the horizon.
Cloud
Cloud is gaining in popularity for smaller operations, but the reality is the operator still has to ensure that the (physical) data centre has all the requirements, network, backbone and redundancy, as the cloud computing solution is still delivered by physical servers and hardware.
Cloud offers a flexible, scalable and "burstable" hosting solution and will continue to provide for the needs of many i-gaming businesses in the foreseeable future.
Managed services
The demand from i-gaming companies for managed services is growing significantly. Traditionally, they have been very protective of their core systems, and the services which support them.
This is now changing, as more operators are questioning what is regarded as a "core system" and looking more closely at what can be outsourced.
Manx Telecom is the Isle of Man-based hosting provider chosen by some of the world’s biggest i-gaming brands, including PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Paddy Power.
