I'm in the process of researching the possibility of setting up a gaming service that will bring north american/canadian and european gamers together to play against each other (a sort of gaming Ryder cup)

The game in question is "Counter-strike: Source" which is an FPS and network latency is of the upmost importance.

In an ideal world there would be a data centre in the middle of the atlantic ocean that I would rent a dedicated server in to host the counter-strike games this would give a level playing field to all the competitors as they have an equal distance to the server and equal latency. Obviously this doesn't exist.

There are 2 solutions I can think of:

1) Host a server in an equidistant country (Greenland or Newfoundland etc)
2) Host a server that sits directly on a transatlantic pipe.

The easiest one of these to find would be the server that's sat on a transatlantic pipe. However it's not something that's readily advertised as such google isn't coming back with a great deal.

Has anyone had a similar project or know of any companies that can provide such a specific service ?
I can't seem to find

You can try with a server in the UK. Or servers in Europe and America at the same time. The only problem would be a European team vs an American.

Would it be a matchmaking server? So like connecting the best inteconnected users together or would they be all in one huge game?

I already have servers in the UK and I'm opening a server in the US very shortly. I run cssmixes dot co dot uk which is a match making service for counter-strike source.

I'm looking for something that's a good in the middle dedicated server so that both sets american and uk can get a good ping at the same time.

I already have servers in the UK and I'm opening a server in the US very shortly. I run cssmixes dot co dot uk which is a match making service for counter-strike source.

I'm looking for something that's a good in the middle dedicated server so that both sets american and uk can get a good ping at the same time.

Hi Garthfield ;)

I don't think you'll find anything within your price range (if at all) in the area you're looking at. Your best bet is going to be an East Coast U.S provider with great peering to UK ISPs, this will give a decent enough latency to the U.S.A as well as to the U.K/Western Europe.

I know that's not the answer you want to hear, but there's a reason that this sort of thing hasn't happened yet :)

Bret

I concur with the above, i have played in leagues before with usa and canadian and europe players in another game. We found chicago to be very good 120ms to London. Also London is good, and anywhere on the north east coast (New Jersey , Massachutess, East canada etc).

NY is the best choice for an International community. It balances the pings as best as can be considering.

Thats my opinion from 10 years of being in the gaming side of things. I wouldn't suggest two servers one in each location. When one side of the world is sleeping the other can be populating the server.)

I would recommend many servers located all over EU and US - contact akamai - they may be able to figure out something

I would recommend many servers located all over EU and US - contact akamai - they may be able to figure out something

Akamai doesn't offer game servers...

It just needs to be a regular dedicated server, I instal all the software/games myself.

Check out the offers section and get an experienced provider that has experience in game hosting as backup. Even though you are confident in your abilities, it pays to have staff near by.

Thanks for the advice. I'm really looking into finding out how I can find dedicated server providers who are directly connected to the transatlantic pipe. Is there a way of doing this ?

I found the transit route and also the place where the dedicated server needs to be located. This mythical island in the middle of the atlantic actually does exist and has a pipe going to it.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_III

Ponta Delgada, Azores Islands, Portugal.

except that it routes in via southern europe, so may actually impact latency/connectivity to those in northern europe (peerings via Spain aren't as distributed and well connected as those going through amsterdam, frankfurt, london I believe). Same goes for the routing back up to the east-coast of usa.

Shortest route/peering between the major hubs would be the hibernia atlantic fibres I'd imagine.
http://www.hiberniaatlantic.com/

NY is the best choice for an International community. It balances the pings as best as can be considering.

Thats my opinion from 10 years of being in the gaming side of things. I wouldn't suggest two servers one in each location. When one side of the world is sleeping the other can be populating the server.)
I agree with this. NY gives about 90-110ms ping to people in the UK and mostly under 50ms ping to anyone in the USA and Canada.

Hosting in the UK puts a lot of distance between the server and California, and isn't advised.