Forget Oceans Eleven. The Venetian Sands' IP hub is "just another data center," according to reporting in Computerworld by Patrick Thibodeau.
Like many businesses, the Sands is moving its worldwide operations to IP for everything connected to a network -- from VoIP, to HDTV (...HDBaseT in da hizzouse...), not to mention fancy schmancy indoor wireless systems, definitely IP Security, one would think...and especially slot machines.
What's the advantage of having slots on IP? The transaction speed, said Steve Vollmer, chief technology officer and vice president of IT at Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Every action on a slot machine is recorded, producing a small amount of data that is sent to the central server. "We know exactly what's in that slot machine [at any given moment]," noted Vollmer.
Winners and losers are determined by algorithms generated by each individual machine [ed. note: IP gambling console?] which generates millions of random numeric combinations.
"A slot machine is essentially a PC running a very hardened Unix-type code," added Vollmer.
Actually, the whole deal doesn't sound so surprising to anyone having observed the seen-it-all expressions on the faces of that enormously hectic city's casino dealers and resort service personnel. Ho hum, another day in Hell's data center. Too bad it ain't solar powered.
One thing about working in a data center located in the middle of the desert: I bet the air-conditioning is awesome.
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