Bigpoint sets store by euromicron for new IT network

Bigpoint GmbH from Hamburg has grown at a terrific pace in the past years. Germany’s leading developer and vendor of browser games is one of the world’s top 3 in this growth market. Browser games are online games that can be played directly in a browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Safari or Firefox) – without having to be downloaded or installed on the PC first. The company numbered 100 employees in 2007, a figure that has since risen to over 800. These are mostly highly qualified people who ensure that the more than 220 million registered Bigpoint users are offered new games, fun and excitement.

The company’s growth meant that it needed to relocate its headquarters in May 2011. A location was found in the heart of Hamburg, at the “Am Gänsemarkt” square, just a few steps from the Alster lake and Dammtor train station. And the building itself is just as impressive as the location: The former post office building is listed as a historical monument and, with its around 12,000 square meters, offers plenty of space for further growth. It was carefully renovated in close coordination with the Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments. Numerous old elements, such as the original stairwells, were preserved. Now the new offices have a modern and stylish look – Bigpoint’s new place of work exudes a cool loft-like charm.

Homogeneous network infrastructure that can grow with the company

However, just as important as the creative atmosphere for Bigpoint were the technological efficiency of the modern workplaces and leading-edge technical equipment of the entire building to match the company’s image. The network infrastructure in the renovated industrial building therefore had to be brought up to date.

Bigpoint chose the network specialists euromicron systems for the active technology. The system house from the euromicron Group is an all-round solution provider for communications, data, security and broadband networks. euromicron’s network infrastructures integrate voice, video and data transport wirelessly, via copper cable and by means of fiber-optic technologies. That was a good decision: during planning, it turned out that Bigpoint’s growth strategy demanded a completely new, homogeneous and expandable network.  
“Among other things, connection to 450 Mbit/s-capable dual N-standard WLANs wouldn’t have been possible due to the numerous restrictions to data rates in the old network,”  says Henning Stüben, account manager at euromicron systems GmbH in Hamburg.

Full-coverage LAN and WLAN network for inside and outside

After a detailed analysis of needs and future requirements for the network by euromicron’s experts, Bigpoint decided to build a redundant, highly available LAN on the whole building’s extensive copper and fiber-optic cabling, as well as to provide WLAN coverage also extending to the outside areas of the building complex (e.g. terraces and interior courtyard). The customer’s requirements for scalability and high availability were ensured by the meshed 10,000 Mbit/s = 10 Gbit/s backbone technology and redundant design of all central systems, such as the WLAN controllers or routing-capable core switches with expansion reserves, and were pretested and accepted by the customer at euromicron’s lab.

Bigpoint moved to its new location within 4 days, with the result that  euromicron had to accomplish the installation work within a very tight time window. First of all, the existing structure at the company’s old headquarters was kept in operation and the new functioning network was then created in the new building. 2 core switches, 13 floor switches, 63 WLAN access points, 200 office switches and 3,600 active network ports were installed within a few days, meaning an operational network was able to be handed over to the customer on the first day it moved into its new premises. “Good coordination prior to installation at a customer workshop meant that we at euromicron were able to preconfigure all the necessary parameters at our own lab,” is how Stüben explains the rapid implementation.
And the quality of the network infrastructure did not suffer whatsoever because of that speed. André Wagner, head of the euromicron systems branch office in Hamburg, is proud of his team, which was able to give the new customer Bigpoint a magnificent display of its skills in this first project: “Bigpoint’s satisfaction proves that our team turned in a highly professional performance – from consulting, project management to implementation.”

Bigpoint (www.bigpoint.com) is a developer of online games, publisher and content provider for around 1,000 international sales partners. Games from Bigpoint are played by over 200 million players in more than 30 languages. The company’s diverse portfolio covers numerous games platforms – from the browser, mobile phones to social networks. Over 800 employees from more than 35 nations work at Bigpoint’s headquarters in Hamburg and further locations in San Francisco, Berlin, São Paulo and on Malta. The many accolades Bigpoint has won include the Mashable Online Game Award for “Farmerama”, the “Fastest Growing Larger Company” and “Uniqueness of Offering” prizes at the Media Momentum Awards 2010, and the “MTV Skyscraper Award” for extraordinary achievement in game development. You can find more information and press materials in our Press section at www.bigpoint.net.

euromicron systems GmbH is a system house of euromicron AG and the specialist for telecommunications, IT & networks and security systems. Customers of euromicron systems benefit from extensive project expertise in designing and implementing system solutions in the areas of communication, security, monitoring and IT. The company also offers managed services to meet the customer’s specific requirements and future-proof, end-to-end solutions – from consulting, implementation to maintenance.

euromicron AG (www.euromicron.de) is an all-round solution provider for communications, transport, data and security networks. euromicron’s network infrastructures integrate voice, video and data transport wirelessly, via copper cable and by means of fiber-optic technologies.
euromicron builds its leading applications, such as security, control, healthcare or surveillance systems, on the basis of these cutting-edge network infrastructures.

Founded on its expertise as a developer and producer of fiber-optic components, euromicron AG is a strongly growing, highly profitable group that is listed on the stock market, has a medium-sized character and focuses on operational growth, integration and further market penetration, internationalization and expansion.