Aewin Technologies selects Ramtron’s 4-megabit F-RAM memory for advanced industrial PC-based gaming and gambling solutions

Casinos are increasingly replacing traditional slot machines and table games with advanced electronic gaming solutions that offer high-performance computing, graphics technology and embedded security to protect system integrity and prevent hacking. In addition to electronic gaming, the gambling industry is adopting electronics technology to provide real-time player tracking, surveillance, security, data analysis, and accounting. Electronic gaming today accounts for 70 per cent to 80 percent of casino revenue, which reduces operating costs, increases profitability, and eases product development.

“We have replaced BBSRAM with F-RAM in our GA-2000 and GA-3000 designs,” explains Aewin Project Manager, Ken Huang. “F-RAM is widely recognized as the memory of choice in industrial PC designs for casino video gaming.”

Today’s casinos are based on a network of embedded, server-based systems that communicate seamlessly with one another from gaming devices and their peripherals, to the host systems that track player activity, and the hospitality transactions and kiosks where players cash out. Each server can control networks at a single casino or at multiple sites to provide software updates, schedule maintenance, or change the mix of games. The GA-2000 and GA-3000 are Gaming Standards Association (GSA)-compliant, meeting advanced communication standards and providing a computer platform to evaluate many types of gaming and amusement machine applications.

The GA-2000/3000 are full-featured, all-in-one boards containing the CPU, system memory, F-RAM, solid-state disk storage, I/O functions, and an audio amplifier to enable gaming or amusement machines that consume little power and provide superior 2D/3D graphic performance. Low-power F-RAM memory is used in the GA-2000/3000 as a unified memory to buffer game settings, system status, logged transactions, and winning records among other functions.

F-RAM’s fast writes and high endurance are essential for the continuous storing of configurable parameters such as betting behavior, odds, transaction records, and won or collected credits, as well as restoring data after a power outage. F-RAM also stores security parameters such as the number of times a logic area or cash door is accessed, enabling the casino to monitor and record events that identify unauthorized access to the machine.