Novomatic takes a different approach to server-based gaming.

A Serve

THE current buzzword in the industry is server-based gaming, but Novomatic and its subsidiary Astra Games decided to take a different approach.

They developed A-Serve server-supported gaming. In principle this means that full control over the game remains local with the individual gaming machine and is not performed by a central server. The random number generator also remains local with the gaming machine and ensures uninterrupted play, even if the system is offline.

However, with A-Serve the content and numerous software and hardware parameters are centrally administered by remote content management via the server. The system is the result of a joint development project undertaken by the ATSI team in Poland, Astra Games in the UK and the Austrian headquarters’ R&D teams led by Novomatic CTO Thomas Graf.

It is essentially a highly efficient means of delivering proven, world class gaming content to UK bingo, pub and adult gaming centre locations that offer categories B3 and C. In the near future category B1 and B2 products will also be available. There are two elements: firstly, the Entertainment Studio which comprises diagnostics as well as game download and promotion functions and, secondly, Orbital, which involves reporting. All this is achieved using, currently, the iconic FV762 and FV600 cabinets, in a way that is seamless, flexible and – crucially – reliable.

And it is in the area of reliability where A-Serve has made such a tangible impact. As any good operator will testify, machine downtime is an anathema to a profitable operation. A-Serve does more than any other platform to minimise that downtime by identifying issues such as paper jams or bill acceptor problems earlier, responding to them more rapidly and ultimately ensuring that players can keep on playing.

Read the full article in the September issue of InterGaming