03/13/2002

CeBIT 2002: QSC and CPL Europe promote professional E-Sport tournament

Cologne, 13.03.02 - On 16 and 17 March 2002, QSC AG, Germany's professional DSL provider, and Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL), a professional e-sports tournament, are hosting the "QSC German CPL Invitational". The tournament kicks off the CPL 2002 series. Four German teams, so-called "clans", have been invited to compete. The participants include the two top European teams, "Schröt Kommando" and "Mortal Teamwork", and the no less well-known clans "nFaculty!" and "Deutschlands kranke Horde".

LIVE transmission - Q-DSL makes it possible
"CPL Europe" and "Gamer-TV" are providing joint live coverage of the tournament. The games are being broadcast on a huge video screen at the QSC stand, while the separate rounds are being streamed into the Internet using a Q-DSL high-performance connection. The competitions can thus be watched live and in colour under www.q-dsl.de or www.gamer-tv.de.

QSC is sponsoring the Counterstrike tournament at this year's CeBIT fair by providing the venue, a high-speed LAN infrastructure including Q-DSL web access, and Euro 3,000 in additional prize money.

The official CPL tournament computers are provided by CPL Europe, the Internet access by QSC. The latter is a Q-DSL connection providing transmission speeds of up to 2.3 Mbit/s. In the multiplayer insider communities, Q-DSL is considered to be the best DSL connection currently available in Germany due to its fast ping times.

A professional league - CPL
CPL is the world's largest professional league for online gamers. It was launched in 1997 and has been organising competitions in Europe since early 2000. The attraction of CPL is its high standard, substantial prize money and the very best gamers who have made their hobby their profession. The German CPL gamers are only the tip of the iceberg - the creme de la creme among the 180,000 or so registered players in the German-speaking zone.

How do you play?
Each team comprises five players and a coach. The players move their respective alter egos through virtual spaces - maps - and collect points by forcing their opponents to the ground with frequent hits. Several rounds are played to determine the winner of the competition. The game played - Counterstrike - is one of the most successful and popular to appear in recent years, boasting an avid following of around 5.2 million European gamers.

Learning by doing is the name of the game
Visitors to the fair with an interest in gaming also have a chance to delve into the racy and exciting world of gaming and prove their skills. Throughout the CeBIT fair, they can play at the official CPL tournament computers outside tournament hours at noon and 5 p.m.

Brief profile
QSC AG (QSC) is Germany's professional DSL provider, supplying business and residential customers with broadband leased line connections over ordinary telephone lines, as well as innovative services of the highest quality. The company now serves more than 40 of the largest cities in Germany with its broadband network infrastructure, thus reaching more than 20 million potential users. QSC currently employs a workforce of 280.

Contact:
Claudia Zimmermann
QSC AG
Mathias Brüggen Str. 55
D-50829 Köln
Tel.: +49 (0)221/6698-235
Fax: +49 (0)221/6698-289
E-mail: presse@qsc.de