xLAN 2004

[Soggy Chips]

http://www.xlan.co.nz/
LABOUR WEEKEND
Start: 23rd October 12pm
Finish: 25th October 2pm
Price: $60 prepay, $65 door sale
Place: Alexandra Park Raceway, Greenlane
Amount: 600 people
Prizes: Cash Prizes and more to be announced.

[milla_kazuya]

600 people!
You think your gonna get that.

And $60 is quite a bit, is there anything special about this one, than others...?
Just wondering.

[fatsanchez]

Originally posted by milla_kazuya
600 people!
You think your gonna get that.

And $60 is quite a bit, is there anything special about this one, than others...?
Just wondering.

600 people might not be possible in chch, but up here it most definatley is.

This is interesting, could take some wind out of A5's sails...

[KingJackal]

Originally posted by fatsanchez
600 people might not be possible in chch, but up here it most definatley is.

This is interesting, could take some wind out of A5's sails...

Yup, very possible in Auckland, and $60 isn't a bad price for a LAN of that scale ( you just can't run large LANs at the same per-person price as small LANs, the costs don't go up linearly ).

I'm not sure it'll take out A5, though 'some wind' is a possibility. A5 will be able to p1mp the hell out of their experience, and the experience of their partners to persuade people that can't come to both LANs. I mean they won't even need to, the differences are so obvious:


Xlan - first event. A5... yeah, no competition there.

'Level 1' - biggest switch on their site ( which uses some Euro Engrish ) is a 24-port gig... A5 have Cisco systems, plenty of grunt, have done this sort of thing a dozen times before... again, no competition.

A5 will use the GeekNZ crew and have plenty of staff with experience... Xlan have filled out the 6 'fun' positions ( top dogs, website artist etc ), but have NO network admins, general staff etc... yet again, no competition.


Basically, it is one HUGE uphill climb for a group like Xlan with sponsors like theirs competing against A5... not just from inexperience, but also from their relative lack of exposure ( everyone in Aucks will know about the GeekNZ/Auckmaggedon LANs by now ), and the fact GeekNZ have done a pretty good job of taking out some top-shelf sponsorship. Mad props to them if they pull it off though, competition is always good... I just don't like their odds.

Have the organisers run large LANs before? I hope they're not coming raw from sub-100 person LANs or something... :o

...not that such groups aren't capable of doing it, it's just that they normally have bugger-all infrastructure and experience...

[tmdude]

'Level 1' - biggest switch on their site ( which uses some Euro Engrish ) is a 24-port gig... A5 have Cisco systems, plenty of grunt, have done this sort of thing a dozen times before... again, no competition.

Level1 do make larger switch equipment and have fully designed our network, we will be posting details of the equipment and design in the coming weeks.

GeekNZ own and utilise Lucent switch equipment for most of their events and @ A4 Cisco sponsored/supplied equipment to supplement this.

A5 will use the GeekNZ crew and have plenty of staff with experience... Xlan have filled out the 6 'fun' positions ( top dogs, website artist etc ), but have NO network admins, general staff etc... yet again, no competition.

We have a "core" group which is myself, Soggy Chips, InsaneFreek and Dee-Zilla. The network administrators and some other positions will be announced soon.

Please note our network vendor will also be providing technical support at the event.

Basically, it is one HUGE uphill climb for a group like Xlan with sponsors like theirs competing against A5... not just from inexperience, but also from their relative lack of exposure ( everyone in Aucks will know about the GeekNZ/Auckmaggedon LANs by now ), and the fact GeekNZ have done a pretty good job of taking out some top-shelf sponsorship. Mad props to them if they pull it off though, competition is always good... I just don't like their odds.

We have a good set of sponsors for Saturday's “launch day” and will have some very big sponsorship announcements once we have their signatures on paper.

A point to note is that Langear secured and partnered MSI for the sponsorship of A4.

Have the organisers run large LANs before? I hope they're not coming raw from sub-100 person LANs or something... :o

Personally I was one of the directors of GeekNZ and have hands on experience running large LANs; additionally InsaneFreak and Soggy chips have run many successfully LANs under the Lanholm umbrella.

[evilangel]

i will definitely be checking out this lan especially knowing that tmdude, dee-zilla, soggy and crew are running it

will be good to see the comps that they run hopefully battlefeild 1942/vietnam (crosses fingers)

[InsaneFreak]

There is a BF Tourney, but the version of the game hasnt been decided yet. if you want to have a say there is a poll in the xLAN forums.

[Soggy Chips]

The poll will most likely be running for the next month or so just to make sure everyone has a chance to express thier opinion of wether to go 1942 or vietnam

We also need to decide what RTS game is going to be played for the main rts tourney, current choices are WC3 and Generals.

Pop in by and have your say :)

[Goose]

Originally posted by KingJackal
'Level 1' - biggest switch on their site ( which uses some Euro Engrish ) is a 24-port gig... A5 have Cisco systems, plenty of grunt, have done this sort of thing a dozen times before... again, no competition.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the core network may not be Level1 at the LAN ;)

[tmdude]

You might be right :)

[tmdude]

We have added Battlefield Vietnam and Warcraft III to the offical competitions.

Hopefully will see some of you signup for these or the other comps.