IT specialists launch 'casino in a box' system
With Macau's gambling sector on a roll, an IBM-led group has launched a 'casino in a box', offering information technology hardware and software for the gaming and hospitality businesses.
Computer giant IBM and specialist software suppliers Agilysis, Bally Technologies, InfoGenesis and SSA Global are betting their integrated suite of systems and applications would help solve the complex and growing IT requirements of Macau's hotels and casinos.
Together, the five companies account for more than 80 per cent of the technologies used in gaming and hospitality management in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and other casino hot spots in the US.
Marketing an all-in-one package for the first time is expected to make it easier for the firms to tap into Macau's casino-related projects, estimated to be worth US$20 billion to US$30 billion.
'This suite meets a very real market need,' said Kevin Patterson, director for IBM's worldwide System i sales. 'Our customers say time and time again that they don't want to be system integrators for their businesses. This is the only suite that delivers on the majority of what a client needs to run a large hospitality or gaming operation, letting them focus on their business, not their IT.'
Hospitality and gaming businesses traditionally require separate systems to handle property management, gaming, catering, point-of-sale, finances and human resources.
The group's one-stop solution integrates all those applications and runs them on IBM's System i server, which comes with database software, storage and security systems.
Mr Patterson said the group was in discussions with a big, new Macau casino and hotel operator.
He said Macau projects would serve as a reference to emerging Asian gaming markets, particularly Singapore. The group's reference customer is the Las Vegas Hilton.
Macau government economist Lao Pun-lap last week reported that the territory's gaming industry posted gross revenue of $7.7 billion for January and February, up 14.8 per cent over the same period last year.
The sector's annual revenue growth rate was 11.3 per cent last year, the lowest since 1999.
