Agawi reveals new True Cloud gaming architecture

Cloud gaming is off to a shaky start, but Agawi is working on a long-term solution that it plans to use to pave the way to the future.

Today, Agawi is announcing its new True Cloud platform, which brings together technology leaders like Nvidia, Blue Box, PEER 1, and XO Communications to unify the fragmented cloud-gaming ecosystem under one architecture. This new solution simplifies the process for content providers.

Agawi will extend publishers the opportunity to build a game once and stream it unchanged to a variety of platforms.

“In an industry with many different players, each with many different strategies, it’s not often a startup gets to lead and bring an ecosystem together,” Agawi executive chairman Peter Relan told GamesBeat. “We’re in that time and place right now. You’ve got four different players — chip providers, server vendors, data-center guys, and content publishers — and someone needs to step in and lead. We’re fortunate to have that opportunity.”

Agawi is positioning True Cloud as gaming’s version of Amazon’s cloud services. The company claims that it eliminates the complexity of hosting games so that publishers can more easily stream their titles to customers.

“The previous iterations of cloud gaming have relied on piecemeal efforts and proprietary designs,” Agawi co-founder Rajat Gupta said in a statement. “And in today’s infinite-device landscape, developers that don’t create numerous versions of their games have been struggling to get maximum distribution and reach. Agawi True Cloud requires only one version of a game to ever be written in the cloud, and we can make it accessible on any post-PC era device — meaning that one game can reach an exponentially larger audience on tablets, phablets, TVs, and next-generation game devices like Project Shield.”

True Cloud implements Nvidia’s Grid processors, which can support up to 12 parallel graphics processors. This enables Agawi to stream dozens of games simultaneously from one server. This technology helps to lessen the economic burden that crippled companies like OnLive.

“By incorporating Grid servers, Agawi’s True Cloud is realizing the dream of gaming on any device, anywhere,” Nvidia general manager Phil Eisle said. “The 12 GPUs found inside Grid K340 servers are designed to enable the smooth, seamless interactive experience of a high-performance gaming PC on mobile devices and unlock the cloud as the universal vehicle for fast and economical gaming.”

While Nvidia’s technology is pushing the polygons, Blue Box, PEER 1, and XO Communications are helping Agawi manage the data across a variety of service providers and regions.

“We’re excited to partner with Agawi on their True Cloud architecture,” Blue Box chief executive officer Jesse Proudman said in a statement. “With the explosive growth of tablets, mobile, and smart TVs comes equally explosive growth in the cloud-gaming industry. That explosion brings added complexities to an already complex ecosystem; from GPU manufacturers to cloud service providers to game publishers. True Cloud promises to connect all the players in a seamless manner, allowing for much simpler cloud-gaming adoption. Blue Box is proud to continue its tradition of industry innovation by partnering with Agawi.”

Blue Box, PEER 1, and XO Communications will set up Agawi data centers in different regions, which will help keep lag down no matter where a gamer is streaming.

Cloud gaming still has to prove itself, but Relan thinks it is the natural evolution of the market.

“In five years, everybody will be in the cloud,” said Relan. “It’s inevitable. The next few years will lead the way, and then in five years we won’t be thinking about packaged DVDs or downloading a game here and not having it there. We won’t be thinking like that.”