ow did the Asian market respond to TransAct’s Epicentral Print System, Epic 950 Thermal Slot Machine Printer and Epic 880 Thermal Gaming Receipt Printer?
Rash: Let’s start with the later part of the question here – Our Epic 880 & Epic 950 printers have always been strong performers in the Asian market. The Epic 880 Thermal roll receipt printer is ideal for Amusement with Prizes (AWP), Skills with Prizes (SWP), Video Lottery Terminals (VLT), Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBT), Pachinko machines in Japan, as well as other gaming-type machines around the world. With its compact size and feature packed design – the Epic 880 continues to be the roll printer of choice in Asia. Our Epic 950 ticket printer is definitely the ‘talk of the town’ with its ability to integrate with the Epicentral Print System – this is the software system that prints promotional coupons or messages right at the slot from the existing Epic 950 ticket printer.
The Epic 950 has been the casino preferred TITO printer for a number of years, and we have stuck to our promise that the printer would be able to be upgraded to provide coupon printing at the slot. We recently launched the Epicentral system, which seamlessly integrates to the Epic 950. No need for a complete printer swap out, just a simple hardware add-on – add the ServerPort, and you’re away. We have delivered on our promise here and protected the operators’ investment in the Epic 950.
What can you tell us about G2E Asia visitors’ quality?
Rash: We had a great response from the visitors to our stand. They liked the bright graphics and well lit presentation of the printers. Overall, the visitors to our stand were mostly people who we had expected, along with a handful of surprises. In addition to visitors to our stand, we took the opportunity to go visit with a number of our key OEM customers as well.
Leading up to G2E, we conducted Epicentral demonstrations with all the major operators in Macau, so most visitors to our stand were aware and had a good understanding of how the system works. While the tradeshow environment is good to overview the system and gain interest from new prospects, we found that Epicentral is much better demonstrated in a conference room environment individually with each of the operator groups. The quiet comfortable atmosphere of our conference room allows for more in-depth discussions, more tailored presentations that show the operators their own customized applications and finally, with all that Epicentral can do with Campaign Center Rules and Scheduler, most operators prefer to keep their “homerun” ideas within their own group.
The brainstorming sessions we see take place in these demonstrations show how versatile this product is, and we continue to be amazed at the various applications and scenarios that the operators come up with.
Which Asian market are your main target?
Rash: Macau is where it’s at for us at the moment, but we are also focusing on most of the ASEAN nations, especially the emerging markets like Philippines and Vietnam.
Recently, you have been named as Sales Manager, Global Gaming for the Asia Pacific region. What are your main objectives?
Rash: Epicentral will be a major focus for me, along with extending our distribution network across the Asia Pacific, and maintaining / servicing our current clientele. There are things happening everywhere in this market, from the emerging markets - through to the changes in the domestic Australian markets, so I’ll be keeping a close eye on all of these developments and dealing with them accordingly. Our distributors will also play a key role in all of this activity, and I will be working closely with them to see that the needs of these customers are met. I have a big task at hand with all of this, but I’m getting wonderful support within the TransAct team, and also my friends out there in the market, and especially my family, so things are really going great for me.
In your opinion, what is TransAct potential in this fast growing market?
Rash: TransAct already have a very strong foothold in the market, and that is through having the most reliable products out there, our reputation really does precede us. Providing we continue to deliver quality products (which we will), and service our clients in a timely and efficient manner (which we will), then we will continue to prosper in this market. My focus here will be to ensure each of these markets are well aware of our products, and have a good understanding of how they can benefit the property, and ultimately demonstrate the ROI on our products (especially Epicentral).
