GLI
done in Macau and without a large expensive system in the lab.
CI: If this is taken up in a big way by customers,
are you set up to cope with that? Are there going to be issues with large amounts of traffic?
IH: The systems are designed to run multi- thousands of games in a casino environment. At any given time we probably have less than 10 games connected to a system, so in terms of load it’s no problem. In terms of timing, we have multiple versions of many systems, so we might have one or two versions in a submissions process, and we still have other systems available for interoperability testing. In some cases with the more popular systems, we have gone the extra step and provided additional systems dedicated to interoperability.
CI: So the main benefits are time, and money for customers?
IH: One of the factors in developing an alternative for our customers was the problems some of our customers had faced with customs on both sides when they’ve been sending games to us. Some of the newer manufacturers outside the US want interoperability testing on a live system, if they have a GLI lab close to them, they can avoid the hassle of customs and a game sometimes sitting in there for sometimes up to three months. GLI Link speeds time-to-market, saves the supplier
money, and increases their accessibility to markets they might not have had otherwise. Combine GLI Link with our exclusive Point.Click.Transfer. tool, and suppliers have a more efficient access to the global marketplace. A question we are frequently asked is that of
security. GLI Link uses a proprietary technology. It operates at a much lower level of the communication protocol than your average networking communication occurs. What that means in layman’s terms is, although we are operating remotely across the world, the network communication to the devices involved looks as if it’s a regular local area network. It’s a level 2 flat network configuration; the devices have no idea that they are operating remotely. Where we’re intercepting the signal to send it over those large distances, is usually after the first point- of-contact with the system; at that point it’s standard Ethernet communication. It’s not the communication between the game and its first point of contact, which is where the time-critical information is transmitted. That means there’s no time lag even allowing for those distances in the technology. The proprietary technology is rated at the same
level as Homeland Security, to give you some idea of how secure the information is.
CI: GLI has a number of tools for customers to
save time and money with now – how do they all fit together?
IH: It all starts with GLIAccess as the main point of entry. GLIAccess is the back-end of our web site,
which is password protected. Regulators and suppliers can both go on there to check the submissions of games’ status, replications, receive email updates – it’s the central hub. From there flow our many, exclusive tools. First is GLI Verify, a hand-held tool regulators can
take out on the floor so they can verify the system works the way it should, or if there are any problems that need addressing. They can literally take the lab with them on the casino floor. Then there’s Point.Click.Transfer., which allows suppliers to transfer submissions from around the world which have been previously certified; then you add on GLI Link where they can test remotely, get certifications and go back to Point.Click.Transfer. Then the regulators can rely on GLI Verify to make sure it all works together. It’s a faster, more efficient way of doing business that makes life a lot easier for a lot of people.
“We all realize the global gaming industry has been affected by the global recession as much as any industry, so why not make it easier for people on all sides in the industry?”
CI: A company in GLI’s position could easily
have kept life relatively awkward for its customers, but the strides you’ve made in the last 18 or 24 months have been huge, and all toward making the customer’s experience more streamlined…
IH: Exactly, we’re like the Red Cross of the global gaming industry, we’re here to help. We’re here to help customers prepare for the worst and when it happens, we can help. In the meantime we can help them to reach expanding markets. We all realize the global gaming industry has been affected by the global recession as much as any industry, so why not make it easier for people on all sides in the industry? Part of interoperability testing is to ensure that the
game works as intended with the casino system before it goes out live on a casino floor. There are a number of times where a manufacturer will have discovered after going through the regulatory process that their game, when connected to a live system, shows little nuances on that particular system. That’s why more and more jurisdictions are requiring interoperability testing. Some suppliers are doing interoperability testing; they’ve gone through that process and found they need to re-submit before they can sell that game because they discovered an issue on the live casino floor. It also allows them to save costs because they can find issues during initial testing, enabling them to discover the source of the problem, and fix it in the safety and security of the lab, and not live on the casino floor.
MAY 2010 27
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