Advantech-Innocore to show 'record number of design wins' at G2E 2016

Why is the G2E Las Vegas a good fit for your company?

Advantech-Innocore finds it to be a great show for our company and the gaming industry in general. For us the highlights are always to meet our existing customers and to introduce our latest products to them. Of course it's great if we find some new customers through the show but the nature of this industry and of our gaming division at Advantech is to build strong lasting relationships and so G2E provides a great opportunity to meet our customers from all over the world and further those relationships and discuss their future plans and trends in the industry.

What can visitors expect to see from you this year?

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This year we are once again using the theme 'Gaming Intelligence' because it so aptly encompasses our products, our knowledge of the industry and our added value hardware and software solutions

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As the largest industrial PC company in the world, Advantech has over 3000 products for many and varied segments of the embedded computing industry. For gaming we have the widest range of high performance platforms for regulated gaming applications as well as many other products that are increasingly finding traction in the changing landscape of casinos, gaming and hospitality.
New products we will be showing at G2E include the latest AMD based gaming platform, DPX-S2440, which will be running dazzling 4k graphics content and showcasing a new landmark release graphics card from AMD embedded solutions. As slot machines’ requirements skyrocket for larger screens, higher resolution graphics, the DPX-S2440 can handle it by offering the fastest integrated graphics combined with the ability to fit dedicated discrete graphics cards of the industry-standard PCI-express format. This provides customers with the most scalable and adaptable platform to meet all performance requirements now and into the future.

We will also be showing an innovative new video wall digital signage player, DS980, based on Intel’s 6th generation Core architecture and capable of rendering high resolution on up to 6 independent monitors. DS980 Supports “True 4K” (4096 x 2130 @60Hz) resolution via HDMI2.0 ports. Several new PC platforms will also be shown; AIMB-275 (Intel 6th Generations Core mini-ITX), SOM-9751 (AMD Steppe eagle COM express), SOM-7569 (Intel Apollo Lake COM express) among others.

To complement the wide array of hardware platforms we will also be showing various of our latest LCD display products including curved LCD monitors in various sizes, touchscreen solutions, player tracking and button deck replacement LCD panels.

What will be the highlights of the 2016 G2E Vegas and why?

This year we have a record number of new design wins, customers who will be showing their new products which incorporate Advantech-Innocore computer platforms. So we are very excited to see those new products at the show and wish our customers very successful launches.

What are operators most concerned about these days?

I think they are concerned about how to appeal to the changing demographics of todays’ casino visitors. How do they attract the younger visitors and keep them entertained and engaged when their tastes, their attentions span and their preferred modes of consuming media content and playing games has changed so much from previous generations of slot machine players?

The gambling industry in the U.S. is going through a period of transition shaped by a range of factors, some of which have their roots within the country, while others are related to the natural affairs of the international scenario. How would you describe the current state of gambling? What does the future have in store for the sector?

There is no denying that the boom years for US land-based gaming are in the past and that the industry has been flat or declining in many areas for the last few years. I think that the “destination” casino experience will live on in places like Las Vegas but online gaming and other forms of gaming like online casinos, sports betting and lottery will further cut into the localized land-based markets in most regions.

In a recent interview granted to Yogonet, a Pennsylvania official who's pushing to legalize online gambling in the Keystone State, said: “Sometime in the future, I see the U.S. being similar to Europe”. In your opinion, why is it taking so long for the U.S. to allow for gambling expansion in all its forms?

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The diverse regulatory structure in the US which allows local states to control most aspects of gaming is one of the reasons countrywide changes cannot easily occur here

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Each state will review new technologies such as online gaming with respect to its own views, existing regulations, local interests etc.

Considering that non-gaming has, over the last years, become an effective revenue driver for casinos, what are the main challenges facing the industry?

Land based casinos are challenged how to attract the “millennials” and give them a compelling entertainment experience whether its through high-tech slot machines with fully immersive 3-D video graphics content, movie based content , multiple screens or games featuring skill based features or social /tournament play or even virtual and augmented reality applications.