Peak 10, Inc., the leading independent data center operator and managed services provider, continues its involvement in the computer and video game industry through participation in the Second Life Community Convention in San Francisco from August 13-16, 2009. In addition to sponsoring the event, Sean McPherson, a Peak 10 engineer and long-time Second Life resident, will be attending the event and serving as a panelist on various IT related topics.
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. The program enables its users, called residents, to create and run the virtual world, interacting with one another to explore, participate in virtual activities and trade virtual property. The software also contains a three dimensional modeling tool which allows users to build objects. Basic memberships are free and upgrades are available at a low cost.
“We are proud to serve as a sponsor for the Second Life Community Convention and thrilled about Sean’s participation in the event,” said Jeff Spalding, the executive vice president of market operations at Peak 10. “Our commitment to the industry is reflected with our participation here and at the upcoming Austin Game Developers Conference in September.”
McPherson, a facility engineer at Peak 10, has been involved in Second Life since 2003 and has seen first-hand the evolution of high-speed technology, particularly in the computer and video gaming arena. In his 15 years of professional experience, including his last decade with Peak 10, he has served in various roles relating to the design and operation of more than 150,000 square feet and 30+ Megawatts of data center space. In Second Life, McPherson operates the Angel-funded Blank Canvas project, a no-cost incubator for designers and builders who have a vision for projects that can use a temporary home in-world, such as Grace McDunnough’s Musimmersion, which is being performed live in Second Life and streamed into the Second Life Community Convention.
A regular attendee of the Second Life Community Convention, McPherson takes a more formal role this year by participating on various panels and providing technical leadership for the Music Track. He will serve as a panelist for the “Second Life Performer’s Handbook” discussion on the setup and configuration of a variety of audio streaming tools from the client and server side, as well as acquiring and using an audio stream. As part of the “Designing Venues for Live Performances” discussion, McPherson will present ways to optimize the virtual environments in Second Life to avoid server and client lag for its large number of simultaneous users. He will also explain impacts of these possible solutions and the various constraints in designing for capacity.
“I am excited about participating in the Second Life Community Convention this year and I look forward to sharing IT best practices as well as serving as Technical Lead for the event’s Music Track,” said McPherson. “As part of that role, I have coordinated with the track leader and Second Life musicians to make sure proper networking is available for Internet connection at the convention and to stream live music events cross several locations inside Second Life.”
Active in the computer and video game industry, Peak 10 offers cutting-edge cloud-based services and virtualization solutions that allow businesses to reduce hardware and space requirements, optimize server utilization and provide higher levels of availability for an organization’s IT infrastructure. Peak 10 has leveraged this technology in customized solutions benefitting game companies in the interactive games sector such as Emergent Game Technologies, a leading source for all the game development tools required to build, test, manage and expand interactive games. Peak 10 owns and operates data centers in nine key markets that include Cincinnati, Ohio; Atlanta, Ga.; Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C.; Tampa and Jacksonville, Fla.; Nashville, Tenn.; Louisville, Ky.; and Richmond, Va.
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