River City Internet Group

GameRail Completes Initial Funding Round

GameRail’s advanced performance, online gaming bypass network model validated by financial community.

 

St. Louis, MO -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/29/2006 --Progression Networks, dba GameRail (http://www.gamerail.com), today announced that it has successfully closed on its initial funding round. The lead investor is River City Internet Group (RCIG), an area technology company, which will also provide a range of services. Robert Guller, President of The Broadband Exchange Building, is also a significant investor. GameRail has established its office at the Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC) an area technology incubator.

“We are very pleased by the reception, enthusiasm and quick response of RCIG and our other investors, and also excited about the opportunity to join the TEC Incubator.” said GameRail’s President, Blake Ashby. “Our investors and partners are very sophisticated, and have decades of experience in technology and networking startups. Their investment is a great validation of our idea and the team we have assembled. With funding in place, we expect to go live with our initial network in the 4th quarter of this year,” Ashby furthered.

Online multiplayer computer gaming is one of the fastest growing entertainment activities in the U.S., with over 40 million people now playing regularly. GameRail will introduce the first network designed to meet the speed and quality needs of online gaming. GameRail’s bypass network delivers a “direct connect” for the game player to the game host. Players of online games currently must slog through dirty and congested Internet based transport lines, supporting geographically diverse players and game hosts via disparate providers. Present Internet based game play experience is further degraded by a lack of priority routing. GameRail subscribers are able to access GameRail’s bypass network through a partner access provider that has a local interconnection. The subscriber’s game play packets then bypass the multi-hop, high latency Internet and hot route on a dedicated, national broadband network connected to the game host.

“The GameRail network will change the expectations and economics of online multiplayer gaming” said Ashby. “Players of games like Counter Strike and World Of Warcraft will realize a significantly better game playing experience. Access providers and hosting companies will be able to give their customers a significantly better game playing experience while also reducing their own network and Internet costs. We will create a win-win situation for the industry.”

About GameRail:
Progression Networks, dba GameRail, a Missouri LLC, is a facilities-based network operator that is dedicated to delivering superior performance to the online gaming community. GameRail directly connects game players to their favorite game hosts and vice versa, thereby eliminating game play degrading high latency hops on the Internet. GameRail management is an accomplished, multi disciplined, tenured team with operational experience stemming from ISP, CLEC, Gaming, and Web Hosting industries with engineering, financial, customer support, sales and marketing backgrounds. The GameRail network will revolutionize online game play and seeks interested partners and players.

About River City Internet Group:
River City Internet Group (RCIG) is an Internet delivery system holding company. RCIG (http://www.rcig.net) was founded in 2001 and invests in companies that are predominately focused on providing Enterprises and Carriers with Internet based products and services. Managing about a dozen investments and related web properties, RCIG has furthered its position in the online gaming space with like investments in the online game provider GameWatch (http://www.gamewatch.com) and online game tournament management system developer GameVantage. In addition to traditional hosting and access services, RCIG offers, network monitoring and management, software development, wholesale back office and software services to Service Providers in the VoIP, IPTV, ISP, WISP and MVNO space.

About TEC
The Technology Entrepreneur Center is the premier regional incubator for information technology and communications technology start up companies. With a mission to educate entrepreneurs and foster economic development, TEC provides unparalleled access to business mentoring, high-speed connectivity and cost-effective office amenities to help new companies become successful. TEC’s client companies include Global Velocity, Heaton Technology Services, iMobile Access Technologies (iMAT)

Media and Business Development Contact: John Alden, VP Corporate Development
Phone #: 314-216-2044
Email: john.alden@gamerail.com
Website: http://www.gamerail.com