“Advantech has continued to grow year on year breaking the USD 1 B mark in 2013”

What were the main products and developments launched at recent G2E?
Advantech showed a full range of industrial computing platforms for gaming machines - the field-proven DPX Series, as well as a selection of products from Advantech’s other product divisions. Products on display included platforms featuring the latest AMD, and Intel chipsets, and other embedded computing products. Industrial motherboards and modules in a variety of formats were on display including Mini-ITX, COM Express and MicroATX.  Advantech’s growing line of industrial LCD monitor products from ADS (Advantech Display Systems) were also shown. With screen sizes available from 7 inches up to 55 inches and beyond the ADS range includes the latest technology products for high visibility, touch screen, sunlight view ability and ruggedization.

But the main products featured were the four new DPX products: DPX-S435, the first Xeon gaming platform, the DPX-S1435, the new system level gaming platform, the new DPX-SC710, an AMD R series based field serviceable system and finally the new DPX-E130 for the Italian market.

The DPX-E130 is a new product targeted at the slot machine market in Italy and designed to be compliant with the upcoming new technical regulations in that market. However the compact, full featured system can be used in worldwide gaming applications wherever a cost effective and secure CPU system is needed.

The DPX-SC710 is a new ‘cassette’ based system, and is a continuation of the previous generation of ‘C’ Series Connectbus boards, providing a high end system but still at a cost-sensitive price point. The SC710 provides an exciting, new and rich feature set for customers looking for an easy-to-service backplane architecture gaming platform.

The DPX-S435 is the first Xeon capable motherboard for the gaming industry. It features the very latest 4th Generation Intel Core architecture CPUs up to and including Intel Xeon CPUs. Best in class CPU performance – the DPX-S435 supports a huge range of price and performance from dual core Celeron, through Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 and up to Xeon CPUs.

The DPX-S1435 is a complete gaming system combining the unrivalled performance of Advantech-Innocore’s DPX-S435 motherboard with the convenience of the new DPX-S1000 enclosure.

Adding a new dimension to the DPX-S series range, the new S1000 enclosure is a gaming system logic box designed to accommodate any of Advantech’s DPX-S series motherboards in style and with excellent access to the interior behind a casino grade key-locked lid.  The DPX-S1435 system has a card slot bay for a PCI-Express graphics card that is wide enough for today’s high powered double-width graphics cards giving the customer the ability to upgrade from the integrated graphics or add more monitors (up to 7 or more). For mass storage the system includes a quick release carrier with shock mounting for solid state disk or hard drive.

What was your experience at the show and how was the public’s feedback?
Our experience at the show was overwhelmingly positive.  Advantech staff numbering more than 20 people, visited the show from all over North America as well as Europe and Korea.

We had a full schedule of meetings during the show and were very pleased with the outcome.  While overall the industry still remains depressed, we are seeing new design activity and new programs being initiated.

Our timing to launch so many new products this year seems to fit well with the design cycle of many of the ODM manufacturers.  But it is a long design-in process, so we don’t expect major sales from new projects until well into 2015 or 2016.

What does the Italian market represent for Advantech Innocore and what are your latest products launched for that specific market?
Advantech-Innocore has sold products in Italy for more than 5 years and has developed several products specifically for the market.  We have a large office in Milan, Italy, which helps us  keep in close touch with our customers and the market.

Historically, business has been steady in the COMMA 6a AWP market and also in the VLT market.  Our new Italy–focused DPX-E130 product will be released this year and is ready for the expected adoption of the new regulations in Italy.

But we are waiting to see what the timescales are and the actual replacement cycle for new specification machines to replace existing machines on the street in Italy.

Did you launch any specific products for other regions at the Las Vegas show?
While the DPX-E130 is targeting Italy, primarily we have received some interesting enquiries for other markets.  The flexibility to use the DPX-E130 with and without an enclosure (and thereby save cost) and its already low price point make it an ideal platform for cost-sensitive regulated markets and also for markets expected to move towards regulation in the near future. 

Our other new products (DPX-S435, DPX-S1435, DPX-SC710) are suitable for worldwide gaming markets.

What are the main demands placed on you as a supplier?
Our customers are always looking for high reliability and industrial computing platforms which meet the technical requirements of their target markets.  This means Advantech as a supplier must understand the worldwide markets and regulations, working closely with customers and regulators to satisfy all requirements.  Customers also demand a long lifecycle for the products so they can keep buying them for 5 or more years and a strict revision control process.  Other service-related demands from our customers include short lead times and local capabilities for inventory, repairs and configuration services.

As the gaming-focused business unit of the US$ 1 billion Advantech Group, Advantech-Innocore stands alone among hardware suppliers in our abilities to meet these demands. With our own manufacturing plants, component management department, global logistics and service centers, Advantech-Innocore is able to meet the most stringent requirements of our customers in the gaming industry.

What is the firm focusing on now?
Our goal, core competence and focus ,is to provide high technology computer solutions tailored to the needs of the gaming OEM.  We have been providing the latest generation of Intel and AMD based gaming boards to this industry for more than 15years, and as a result the team has become highly specialized at producing products with exact features to match the changing industry.

We have two teams under the Advantech-Innocore brand, one that continues to produce ‘branded’ products suitable to integrate into any video gaming machine across all countries and jurisdictions and a second team that is focused on ODM projects based on customer requests.  This two-team approach allows us to scale up to take on more and more ODM projects while at the same time developing our broad roadmap of branded gaming motherboards with the very latest technology.

Joining Advantech Corporation with its depth and breadth in manufacturing, sales and design means Advantech-Innocore has an unrivalled offering for both small and large customers.  Advantech has continued to grow year on year breaking the USD1bn mark in 2013, building new manufacturing and RandD centers with over 250,000m2 of space in its Taiwan and China plants and expanded its sales and local support offices, warehouses and RMA centers creating a presence in 21 countries.  As part of this successful brand, Advantech-Innocore expects to retain its position as leading provider to the gaming industry into the future.