BETTING ON IP: The Second Generation of Casino Digital Systems

Transcription

1 MARKET By Curt Harler The high roller rooms of casinos are moving to high-resolution imaging for positive identification management. Photo of Hollywood Casino Lawrenceberg courtesy of Penn National Gaming BETTING ON IP: The Second Generation of Casino Digital Systems Integrator, manufacturer team up to deliver hybrid, all-ip gaming surveillance solutions W hile many state gaming regulators have already required the migration from analog to digital video recording, some states still allow the use of complete analog recording solutions. Even though converting an existing site from analog recording (mainly utilizing VCRs and video tape), to digital recording (HVRs, DVRs and NVRs) can be costly, many casinos find digital systems offer significant benefits like being able to quickly and easily search and review video or tie third party systems (point of sale, access control, slot management, etc.) to the surveillance network. Some casinos are even starting to bet on all-ip systems, especially when IT departments have a say in the surveillance specifi SD&I March 2012

2 cations. Most however, are still harboring fears about more costly and complex network-based IP systems and continue to play it safe by adding IP slowly. This means the integrator who can provide a hybrid digital recording solution that merges analog and IP is likely to grab the attention of most casino operators, especially when and if they can migrate slowly and on their own terms. Mix of analog and IP makes sense Tim Lyvers, chief executive officer at Advanced Digital Solutions Inc. (ADS), Catawba, N.C., is a key integrator for the casino industry and started his career as a casino surveillance technician. He is sold on a mixed digital video offering and frequently sells IP and high-definition video in the cash areas at existing digital sites. It is worth the investment in the money areas, over table games and at the entrances, said Lyvers. You can get a lot more data and clarity from your video. While he admits there is little value-add for a high-definition camera recording at back of house hallways, he explained casinos are intrigued by the ability to check for slight-ofhand tricks or identify cash denominations passed across a table. The casino market has been active for ADS in the last 12 months. They secured contracts to install video surveillance systems from Synectic Systems Inc. a digital CCTV hardware and software manufacturer in five Penn National Gaming casinos, including new properties in the justlicensed states of Ohio and Kansas. Lyvers said that Synectics Synergy video management software is very user-friendly. That s a big factor with VALUE IN THE DATA John Katnic, vice president and COO of Synectics Casino surveillance departments are seeking ways to deal with information overload from hundreds to thousands of cameras covering every square foot of the gaming floor, cashier cages, dining and retail areas, not to mention backof-house systems like fire alarms, access control and time clocks for personnel. The security staff has to deal with a lot of background noise when analyzing data, said John Katnic, vice president and chief operating officer of Synectics, Carpinteria, Calif. Sometimes the indication of fraud, theft or collusion does not come from a single device focused on the subject, but from a combination of small interrelated data points gathered from cameras, alarm or other electronic devices elsewhere in the casino. To assist surveillance personnel with the task of sifting through all that data, Synectics has developed an analytics approach called Dataveillance, which combines video with alarm and transactional data from third party systems. Once alarm and transactional data is pushed to the surveillance network from various integrated systems within the casino, Dataveillance is able to provide a common database environment and graphical user interface (GUI) to manipulate and analyze the information through unique algorithms designed to expose deception, theft and cheat scams. Because every casino environment is unique, it can take time and work to integrate these systems and to establish the Boolean logic required for proper analysis. Once thresholds are established and if/and/ or guidelines created, the casino has a powerful, software tool to tie suspicious transactions directly to video. For example, let s say the system is tracking a table with a $100 buy-in. If the network sees a player place $2,000 in bets in an hour (less than 30X buy-in), it simply ignores that data and moves on. However, if that same player places $4,000 in bets (more than 30X buy-in), it triggers an alarm to the pit boss to be sure there is no comp violation occurring. In the back-of-house, Dataveillance can detect if only one key card was swiped at the employee entrance but two time cards were punched at the time clock. Maybe it is benign; a look at the associated video might show one worker held the door for a second. Or, it could show that one employee clocked in himself and a friend who was running late. Tying together convergence and integration Likewise, a well-designed system tied to restaurant point-of-sale (POS) will inform supervisors of each time a certain bartender gave away or comp d for example, more than $50 worth of Jack Daniels simply by merging video and POS transactional and sending an alarm and video clip to the food and beverage department for review. A fully integrated video and slot system will, for example, track data over historic periods say the past week or can be proactive and alarm any time a slot machine pays a large jackpot, has an open door, sounds its tamper alarm, or is visited by a high-value player. The system works in real-time and is limited only by the speed by which the various systems provide data. Katnic says it is the applications unique to gaming like player tracking and slot management that offer the most intriguing return on investment (ROI) proposition because of the potential to alarm on cheat scams as they happen rather than afterwards when the damage has already been done. We re moving forward this year with Bally Technologies to complete slot integration to our Synergy VMS and launch our first live application of Dataveillance, said Katnic. Ultimately to take advantage of a tool like Dataveillance, properties need to add custom integration development to their surveillance system budget and also drive the third party vendors to deliver the necessary connectivity, data export functionality and API documentation to enable integration. SD&I March

3 MARKET Bryan Isenberg, project manager for ADS, with the Synectics system they normally deploy for casino installations. Photo: ADS the traction they re continuing to gain in the industry the mapping and reporting in Synergy is easy for surveillance operators to learn and use, he said. One of the recent sites to deploy the ADS installed, Synectics-driven system, is the Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway, outside Kansas City, which does business as Kansas Entertainment LLC a joint The integrator who can provide a hybrid digital recording solution that merges analog and IP is likely to grab the attention of casino operators. UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF IP Interoperability for IP video has the potential to bring great value to the security industry and development of such standards is still evolving between two organizations: PSIA (the Physical Security Interoperability Alliance, and ONVIF (the Open Network Video Interface Forum, Backed by different segments of the security industry, each has made strides forward to workable open standards. PSIA works primarily in five areas: video, video analytics, recording and content management, area control and systems. ONVIF has focused primarily on cameras. PSIA is more broad-based. Neither addresses completely the issue of audio, alarms or onboard memory in IP cameras. Until IP technologies are just as easy to design, sell and install as traditional analog CCTV systems, IP will not deliver on its true value, said Scott Harkins, president and general manager of Honeywell Systems, Melville, N.Y. Deploying standards that drive true interoperability is a key initiative and is a critical step to unlocking the potential of IP for our customers and the industry as a whole. venture of Penn National Gaming and International Speedway Corporation. Lyvers and his team installed a mix of analog and IP cameras all recorded on Synectics Synergy Video Management System. This is a strategy he frequently employs not only at the Penn National projects, but also at other sites he serves. There is an analog and IP camera mix at the Kansas Speedway property but for table games they opted for high-definition IP cameras because of the superior image quality, commented Lyvers SD&I March 2012

4 ality Gaming/Hospit MARKET Casinos are making the move to migrate to IP with the help of current hybrid solutions. Photo of the Hollywood Casino Lawrenceberg (above) courtesy of Penn National Gaming At another current ADS/Synectics project, the Kansas Star Casino in Wichita, ADS has installed an all-ip camera recording system using Pelco cameras, Synectics recording and video management system and an ADS design. Kansas Star went all IP because their IT director was involved in the decision process early on, Lyvers explained. Because of the picture quality and detail IP cameras offer, Kansas Star requested analog components not be included in the design. Lyvers sees picture quality as the key driver to casinos starting to use IP cameras and he finds state gaming regulators are pushing it once they see the value. The real move will come when the states begin to mandate it within gaming regulations. Analyzing costs of analog versus IP We are entering the second generation of digital recording systems in casinos, said John Katnic, vice president and chief operating officer at Synectic Systems Inc., Carpinteria, Calif. We see significant evolution in the gaming market to IP because of the advances that have been made with high Brian Tally, integration and design engineer for Advanced Digital Solutions LLC, handles system programming in the computer room. Photo: ADS 38 SD&I March 2012

5 MARKET definition and megapixel cameras, he continued. An all IP solution can be cost effective because it eliminates the need for analog video encoders and simplifies cabling. Plus, when designed correctly, it is very reliable and offers casinos the flexibility to easily add a variety of third-party IP cameras as they expand. HYBRID NEW GAME IN TOWN By Mark Collett The Gaming Industry has long been the province of analog security systems. Why? Despite the many advantages that network (IP-based) systems offer (high-definition video, greater scalability and flexibility), we can only surmise that some of the reasons are cost, including removing and replacing cabling, difficulty in changing current control room equipment, training and possible disruption of operation. Sony is now launching its line of hybrid HD cameras to address these issues. This enabling technology allows HD network video capabilities while extending the value of the investment in both the current analog control room equipment and operation as well as the existing coaxial infrastructure. While there are coaxial media converters available to allow the use of IP cameras over coax, this hybrid technology is completely different. Both analog SD video and HD IP video are riding on the same single coaxial cable. Add to this the benefit of being able to use 1,000-foot runs (Ethernet has a 328-foot limit). Other important aspects to hybrid are the live monitoring and control capability. The latency in IP systems has two dimensions: in the video stream itself and in the command and control of cameras. If you re following a person of interest across a casino, you want the precise, immediate control that analog offers. This is crucial when cameras are zoomed in, making the task of tracking someone at a distance more difficult. With hybrid solutions, you can get the best of both worlds the near-zero latency of analog plus IP s HD imaging quality. The practical implications are enormous. This gives end users a much wider range of choices in how to add capabilities. With hybrid solutions, the end-user s needs, NOT the technology, dictates how they add IP functionality to their analog systems. Mark Collett is the general manager, Sony Security Systems Division, headquartered in Park Ridge, N.J. ADS s Tim Lyvers does not expect a decisive move to IP in the gaming industry until manufacturers cut back on the production of analog cameras and the price of IP cameras drop. The cost-benefit from IP video depends on the situation and the specification. Clearly, most casino operators would prefer to keep their legacy analog systems for as long as they can to maximize their original investment in that equipment. Factors like ease of expansion, cost of rewire, availability on existing matrix switches and image quality come into play when considering a move to an all-ip networked solution. On a new build, it is as cost-effective to go all-ip as it is to go analog because the money ordinarily spent on the matrix and cable goes into the network. The price of recording is the same. Digital cameras do cost more but there is savings on the encoder and of course infrastructure efficiencies of having network-deployed devices, commented Katnic. Fines for not following the rules With the steep fines that can be handed out by gaming regulators for the loss of video, there remains concern about up-time and single points of failure within any digital system. If you drop your network in an all- IP solution, you drop everything. It is your spinal cord, Lyvers stated. The jackpot for a casino is to find an integrator who can not only provide a seamless hybrid system but also have the technical resources to help them migrate to a resilient networked IP system as the casino goes forward. To efficiently protect the casino s assets, the customer, integrator and manufacturer have to work together, Katnic said. What is required is a holistic system that normal SD&I March 2012

6 MARKET ADS Project Manager Bryan Isenberg works on connections for a specification. Photos: ADS ADS CEO Tim Lyvers, left, said when IT executives are involved in systems specifications and want high quality images the result is often a move to all-ip camera surveillance. izes video into one universal media format and brings together data from disparate systems from the enterprise into a central command-and-control inter- face. That is not always easy. In many jurisdictions, there is a church-and-state separation between surveillance and the local area network overseen by IT that can add complexity to the integration process. With casinos starting to demand high-definition IP cameras over high-value sources like cashier cages and high-stakes table games, integrators will need to evolve to a higher level of network expertise sooner than later. Lyver s recognizes this and has added technicians with IT knowledge to his team. He also relies upon solution partners like Synectics, who have network engineers and designers to provide the support required to offer a complete, integrated systems solutions. Perhaps more than integrators or regulators, it is manufacturers who will dictate the move to IP. Lyvers does not expect a decisive move to IP in the gaming industry until manufacturers cut back on the production of analog cameras and the price of IP cameras drop. Then, there will be a bigger rush to IP, he explained. In casinos, they want one throat to choke and a turnkey system, Katnic added. The integrator who teams with a good manufacturer should never roll snake eyes. Curt Harler is a Cleveland-based freelance writer and regular contributor to the magazine. He can be reached at curt@curtharler.com SD&I March 2012