This spike in Xbox Live traffic following the launch of a highly anticipated game is reminiscent of Halo II’s release in 2004 (read "Halo II signals start of broadband gaming boom"), marking the first boom in online gaming and resulting in the sustainable popularity of Xbox Live.

"The effect Gears of War and other games are having on networks indicates to service providers that online gaming is not just a craze. Their networks must be equipped to protect this increasingly valuable traffic from the effects of a best-effort network," says Dave Caputo, president and CEO of Sandvine. "Other multimedia applications like video downloads onto iPods are increasingly becoming popular, so service providers need to identify these trends early in order to proactively ensure there is adequate capacity to support the extra bandwidth usage."