Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | December 2010 18 IGT libraries. There are well over 100 games available in the [IGT] library in this [Asia] market. That allows you to take any of those themes to put on your main game. You the operator can then manage those games on a scheduled basis.” Theming the floor A practical example of the benefits of remote content management is that it can be used to create a themed area within the casino itself. “One property we work with is creating an area in their casino to drive excitement, with new games,” says Eric Lancaster. “So what they do when they get the new games via sbX Floor Manager every month is they will load all the new game themes in that particular area of the casino. And they have signage to support it and they award extra points for players that go and play those new game themes. This really helps your players to try new things. The customer perception is that your technology can differentiate you from a property down the street. This differentiation is really starting to drive how your players play, based on how you want them to play. One of the new things you can do with sbX Floor Manager is you can begin to choose your price point.” sbXFloor Manager does more than simply manage the game themes. “You can start to manage some of the firmware that’s in say the bill validators, and in the printers, and you can set game options,” states Eric Lancaster. “For example, you can set your hand pay options and you can set the clocks on these games if you need to. This tool allows you to completely manage the games, not just the game themes. It also allows you to see your floor and to select based on certain criteria. You can click on the games and see all the game themes that are on those, and the entire meter set. “These games are not necessarily all IGT games. You can click on the games of any manufacturer that’s implemented the GSA’s open standards and see all the same information,” adds Mr Lancaster. “sbX Floor Manager also maximises your investment in your network infrastructure. So whether you have a high-speed network or a low-speed network or a serial network, you have built that network for a reason. That is to get player information back and forth, for processes such as accounting. Using sbX Floor Manager helps to maximise investment in that network infrastructure.” IGT’s Eric Lancaster—explaining the benefits of sbX Open House IGT is encouraging slot technology integration with an interoperability testing facility in its home base in Reno IGT has shown its commitment to the development of GSA open standards by setting up a facility for equipment interoperability testing—the IGT Global Technology and Interoperability Center—at the company’s home base in Reno, Nevada. “It is built with the primary purpose of bringing or allowing all the manufacturers to have a place to build and test their equipment and games,” says Eric Lancaster. “We test downloading and managing of other manufacturer’s games within our system. And those manufacturers can also take their systems into that lab and test our games. I’m glad that IGT was able to do it. It was a very expensive thing to do, but it’s also a certified GSA testing centre.” “I want to reinforce the point that GSA standards are not something that IGT controls or owns. It’s a commonly agreed platform among all the manufacturers,” adds John Gomes. “Everyone who wants to implement it needs some R&D dollars to put behind the implementation of this protocol. It’s up to each company how quickly or how slowly they do that in terms of how much cash they have behind it.” “But I can tell you that the manufacturers are very excited about these protocols. They are very excited about GSA and we are very interactive with them. IGT architects and engineers speak with architects and engineers from those companies on what seems like a daily basis. “We take ideas to the GSA and we get together. All the members must agree before it’s implemented. If it doesn’t get agreed upon by GSA, it doesn’t happen.” John Gomes, Managing Director, IGT Asia