<s>
A	O
gameframe	B-Protocol
is	O
a	O
hybrid	B-Device
computer	I-Device
system	O
that	O
was	O
first	O
used	O
in	O
the	O
online	B-Application
video	I-Application
game	I-Application
industry	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
an	O
amalgamation	O
of	O
the	O
different	O
technologies	O
and	O
architectures	O
for	O
supercomputers	B-Architecture
and	O
mainframes	B-Architecture
,	O
namely	O
high	O
computing	O
power	O
and	O
high	O
throughput	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2007	O
,	O
Hoplon	O
and	O
IBM	O
jointly	O
started	O
the	O
gameframe	B-Protocol
project	O
in	O
which	O
they	O
used	O
an	O
IBM	B-Device
System	I-Device
z	I-Device
mainframe	B-Architecture
computer	I-Architecture
with	O
attached	O
Cell/B.E.	O
</s>
<s>
blades	O
(	O
the	O
eight-core	O
parallel-processing	O
chips	O
that	O
power	O
Sony	O
's	O
PlayStation	B-Operating_System
3	I-Operating_System
)	O
to	O
host	O
their	O
online	B-Application
game	I-Application
Taikodom	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
the	O
Cell	B-General_Concept
blades	O
account	O
for	O
the	O
required	O
computing	O
power	O
,	O
it	O
's	O
the	O
high	O
data	O
throughput	O
of	O
the	O
mainframe	B-Architecture
which	O
is	O
of	O
particular	O
interest	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
System	B-Device
z	I-Device
provides	O
a	O
high	O
level	O
of	O
security	O
and	O
massive	O
workload	O
handling	O
,	O
assuring	O
the	O
execution	O
of	O
its	O
administrative	O
tasks	O
and	O
guaranteeing	O
an	O
enduring	O
connectivity	O
to	O
a	O
huge	O
number	O
of	O
clients	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cell/B.E.	O
</s>
<s>
takes	O
over	O
the	O
most	O
resource	O
demanding	O
calculations	O
thus	O
enabling	O
the	O
System	B-Device
z	I-Device
to	O
fulfill	O
its	O
job	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
combination	O
is	O
both	O
an	O
effective	O
and	O
financially	O
attractive	O
game	O
server	O
system	O
,	O
as	O
the	O
most	O
computation-intensive	O
tasks	O
are	O
offloaded	O
from	O
the	O
expensive	O
CPU	O
cycles	O
of	O
System	B-Device
z	I-Device
and	O
are	O
carried	O
out	O
on	O
the	O
much	O
more	O
economical	O
Cell	B-General_Concept
blades	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
gameframe	B-Protocol
can	O
handle	O
the	O
required	O
transactions	O
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
Games	O
with	O
numerous	O
players	O
like	O
World	B-Protocol
of	I-Protocol
Warcraft	I-Protocol
have	O
tackled	O
this	O
problem	O
by	O
splitting	O
the	O
work	O
among	O
multiple	O
clusters	B-Architecture
,	O
creating	O
duplicate	O
worlds	O
that	O
do	O
n't	O
communicate	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Cell-augmented	O
mainframe	B-Architecture
runs	O
Hoplon	O
's	O
virtual-world	O
middleware	B-General_Concept
,	O
called	O
bitVerse	O
,	O
which	O
uses	O
IBM	O
's	O
WebSphere	O
XD	O
and	O
DB2	B-Application
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Around	O
the	O
gameframe	B-Protocol
,	O
the	O
IBM	O
Virtual	O
Universe	O
Community	O
has	O
evolved	O
.	O
</s>
