Fiber connections on IGT comm board

[dcorbin]

New user to NLG...love it...great stuff!

We're looking at the fiber ports on an S2000 slot (IGT comm board 754-301-xx) and trying to figure out the connector types and details...pic attached...anyone?

Thanks in advance,

DC

[kforeman]

   welcome DC to NLG.
what exactly are you asking about the fiber connections?  do you need a replacement connector because one broke off or are you designing your own fiber circuit?  i suggest mouser.com for pretty much any electronic needs, caps, i.c.'s, resistors, fuses and connectors plus much more.  if you are asking why those fiber ports are there i may be of some assistance but not much.  the WAP you see on the cover is a really old way for the Wide Area Progressive communications from the machine to the "server" located in the back of the house somewhere.  the EZPAY designation on the other port was probably never used.  EZPAY was IGT's first method of Ticket In/Ticket Out but i don't think the fiber port was actually ever used for it.  the comm board that you're looking at is used to interface the machine and the player tracking and/or WAP systems.

[dcorbin]

Thanks for the welcome!

What we're looking at is another connection option for our slot monitoring product and have been exploring the fiber ports on the these comm boards.  I got some info from IGT on this and I'm looking at a fiber to RS232 converter like this (http://www.transition.com/TransitionNetworks/Uploads/Downloads/JRS232-xF-01xx.pdf) to run inline, as the typical setup is a fiber loop (host Tx ==> slot 1 Rx ==> slot 1 Tx ==> slot 2 Rx....and so on back to the host Rx) with each one echo'ing the responses down the line to the host.

On the older 754-301-xx comm boards there is a 10 pin RS485 port we can access, but the newer 754-315-xx boards don't have this so the fiber ports are our only option when the primary 5 pin RS232 is occupied. 

Looks like the Rx and Tx ports are based on the Agilent Versatile Link architecture and the connectors are fairly common...old school, but common.  We're going to get one of these converters in our lab and give it a go...stay tuned!

[kforeman]

   sweet a new player tracking system!  are you going to design a full on system that includes all the Marketing jazz, accounting reporting, redundant servers and stuff or is this a more simple machine data & players card only system?  i cant help much but i do have over 9 years of tech experience with the Oasis system; i would like to help in any way i can.
if you're just interfacing with IGT's 80960 machines then you have another comm port option.  way back we used to use a 10 pin ribbon cable to connect our player tracking PCB to the game at J6 on the motherboard.  also theres a 6 pin connector at J15 on the motherboard that is used to connect the machine and an external progressive controller so you could probably tap in there if you wanted.  like i said i don't know sh!t about what you're trying to do but i'll help if i can.  feel free to post up or email me directly.
good luck, i'm curious about you're project!!

[dcorbin]

Yeah, the 10 pin 485 port on the comm board is an option, but only on older boards that have them.  The newer boards dropped them in favor of the additional fiber ports.  Will check out the motherboard options as well...thanks for the heads up on these.

As for our system...well...imagine if you could do all of the cool real time data related stuff that G2S promises (not downloadable game content, but real time data at the spin level) but do it with existing legacy SAS games.  We listen for each spin, then use the meters to run about 20 different calculations that give us very detailed game profile information.  And at the end of each play session, we also run about 25 additional summary calculations...all in real time.  We also give operators the ability to build any additional calculations they want...imagine that!

Oh, and this is all connected to a real time rules engine, so an operator can identify any datapoint or trend they want (ie, quick loss, responsible gaming) and have a rule fire to alert floor staff or surveillance, push a message to the slot or interact via mobile app.  The server side is implemented as an SOA based integration platform, so we can tap into any other existing systems (like player tracking, hospitality, POS, etc) regardless of the proprietary nature or "lock down" status.

We're staying away from accounting...too much regulatory and not enough money.  Our system is completely independent from any existing regulatory systems (slot accounting, bonusing, etc).  This is the current roadmap:

Phase 1:  advanced game profiling and optimization
Phase 2:  integrated player profiling
Phase 3:  real time, interactive apps at the slot, on the iPad, Facebook...that's the Marketing Jazz

We're currently out at GLI wrapping up testing and have 2 different field trials scheduled upon completion...you'll be hearing from us soon! 

[kforeman]

sounds like a pretty cool & cutting edge type of add-on.  i think you're on a good path to succeed with the social media inclusion and the real time calculators will shed light into areas that were otherwise dark. 
i wouldn't worry too much about getting through GLI, its my understanding that they pretty much just make sure the product they are checking doesn't obviously violate any rules or regulations and then wait for the problems to be found in the field.
i like the sound of it, lemme know if you need an extremely overpaid but highly ambitious hardware guy. 

[TZtech]

Hello and Welcome to NLG

Do You have a website we can have a look at - Sounds interesting. Whats the advantage of adding another layer of hardware as opposed to extracting and using this data from the existing player tracking systems databases? Are You concentrating only on the US market?

[dcorbin]

Hey TZ...thanks for the welcome.

No website for the time being...we took it down a few months ago while we were in "Skunkworks" mode to keep the visibility down.

To answer your question on adding a hardware layer, there are several advantages to having a dedicated solution (hardware and software) rather than pulling from existing systems:

First off, the existing systems don't do "real time SAS" in the sense that we use it for rule execution...as you're probably all too familiar, slot accounting systems poll meters periodically for...well...accounting reasons.  Player tracking systems are a bit more "event driven" but are still very proprietary and limited (especially at the slot side) in terms of capability.

Secondly, we want to be completely independent from the system manufacturers and the...hmmm, "challenges"...in dealing with them when you try to get them to do anything other than what their system does right now.  To be fair, this is in large part due to the regulatory process and the time and effort it took for them to get their systems approved and ultimately implemented, but still a limiting factor for doing anything really innovative.

Lastly is simply freedom.  We want to give operators access to real time data in an environment that isn't hindered by regulatory or manufacturer limitations (see my comment above).  Our solution isn't confined to a specific use...it's a real time data platform that can be used for advanced analytics, real time marketing, responsible gaming, system integration and externalization, regulatory transparency...whatever the operator wants to accomplish, all without compromising the existing channels and systems.

We offer the solution on a lease basis, which includes all of the hardware, so there isn't a huge capital investment.  We also have a G2S version that's mostly complete (still waiting on a couple of decisions from GSA boards before we finalize the implementations) so whenever that becomes a reality, the slot side hardware goes away.  I'm not expecting G2S to be floorwide/nationwide in my lifetime...at least not in many places outside of new casino builds...but we'll be ready if it does!

We're currently scheduled for 2 field trials in North America (1 in the US and 1 in Canada), but also have contacts abroad.  Part of the GLI testing this trip is for multi currency testing that we can't do in our lab.  If you know of anyone outside the US market that may be interesting, we'll be glad to follow up!  ;-)

Hope this helps...great questions and conversations!

@kforeman - I'll let you know when we've got some extra payroll!

[TZtech]

Sounds great - Keep us posted. Innovation is not really something our industry is known for despite all the bragging by manufacturers in gaming publications to the contrary.
Good to see people putting tools in place that will make things a bit easier.

You may want to check out this section - http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?board=105.0. There is a whole lot of info on SAS and playertracking as well as the hardware interfacing details to various platforms.

[dcorbin]

Thanks TZ...did you ever get an answer to your question about what exception is generated on a ticket/voucher insert?  Lemmeno, we can help with that.

Also see you're in Jo'Burg...would you happen to know Jonathan Evans, formerly of Sun International there?

[zarobhr]

Thanks TZ...did you ever get an answer to your question about what exception is generated on a ticket/voucher insert?  Lemmeno, we can help with that.

Also see you're in Jo'Burg...would you happen to know Jonathan Evans, formerly of Sun International there?

exception fun -2  is when a tecket is inserted

[TZtech]

Thanks - Yes I did. The name sounds familiar - I think I met him once when I was still at Sun but that was a good few Years back.