Dell Partners with OnLive Inc. to Provide Pioneering Cloud-Gaming Service

OnLive is using its custom-engineered Dell (News - Alert) servers for the rollout of a new cloud-gaming service on Thursday. It is believed to be one of the largest installations of GPU-powered servers to date.

OnLive is a pioneer in on-demand, instant-play video games, and Dell will power its OnLive Game Service. Dell Data Center Solutions custom designed the servers for the OnLive platform, allowing OnLive to quickly scale with the expected growth of its customer base.

The PC and Mac versions of its game service will begin rolling out to consumers on Thursday during the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 in Los Angeles.

The OnLive Game Service is capable of delivering advanced games instantly via a broadband connection on virtually any PC or Mac, via a small browser plug-in, or on an HDTV, via OnLive's MicroConsole TV Adapter.

"As a startup, it can be challenging to access the resources needed to produce and quickly scale computing infrastructure," said Steve Perlman, founder and CEO of OnLive. "Dell has been an outstanding partner, working closely with our engineers to design servers to our exact specifications and business needs, incorporating patented and patent-pending OnLive technology."

In preparation for the launch, OnLive installed the customized Dell servers in its data centers. A DCS team worked directly with OnLive to design a unique, ultra-dense and power efficient infrastructure.

The servers were designed around OnLive's proprietary hardware and software, and were engineered specifically to address the challenges of instant access to HD-quality video games and other high-performance applications over the Internet.

Dell delivered the servers rack-integrated and ready to be hooked up and powered up the same day they arrive at an OnLive data center. Dell will work closely with OnLive on expected new infrastructure designs.

"Customers in the hyperscale data center segment like OnLive demand a different approach to infrastructure design and delivery, one that is customized and collaborative, and focused on dramatically reduced total cost of ownership," said Forrest Norrod, vice president and general manager of server platforms, Dell. "Dell is proud to be working with a truly innovative company like OnLive to design and produce the infrastructure solutions that will help OnLive grow its business and bring this breakthrough service to gamers worldwide."

For organizations in the gaming industry who want the efficiency that DCS customers achieved with customized hyperscale computing infrastructure, Dell recently introduced new Cloud Infrastructure Solutions and PowerEdge C servers, the company said.

To commemorate the launch, AT&T (News - Alert) has teamed with OnLive to become the official partner of the company's Founding Member Program. This limited-time and limited-availability program for qualified users will include a 1-year free membership to the OnLive Game Service, with an optional second year at $4.95/month.