Futurelogic Touts 25th Year of Technology
by Andy Holtmann
Departments
Futurelogic Touts 25th Year of Technology
Company has made key developments and collaborated with other manufacturers to expand its line of core products
Glendale, Calif.-based FutureLogic Inc., a leader in the manufacture and distribution of thermal ticket printers in the gaming industry, is celebrating 25 years in business this year.
Founded in 1983, FutureLogic began doing business as an electronic design consulting business, and created its first custom printer for the medical device market in 1995. FutureLogic printers also helped facilitate the development of supermarket couponing systems that are used to retain and reward shoppers. Today, the company designs and manufactures thermal printers for casino gaming, medical, RTAL, gas pumps, promotional equipment, kiosk and industrial applications.
In the gaming industry, the company said it has been setting performance standards since 1999—winning 10 industry awards in the past three years.
“FutureLogic developed and launched the first TITO [ticket-in/ticket-out] gaming printer, in collab-oration with IGT designers, for the introduction of EZ-Pay,” said Nick Micalizzi, vice president of sales and marketing for North America. “Today, we have more installed TITO printers than all other manufacturers and currently estimate that more than four billion tickets per year are printed across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.”
Although TITO technology has been widely adopted in U.S. casinos and some countries around the world, it is still a developing market globally. One of FutureLogic’s challenges going forward is ensuring that those regions receive the engineering, technical service and regulatory support the company has been able to provide in markets where it has found success.
In addition to establishing engineering and technical service operations in key markets around the world, FutureLogic said it is working hard at developing new technologies and implementing emerging OEM design requirements.
“Our collaboration with industry-leading game manufacturers around the world has been an important factor in our ability to improve printer functionality and develop the interfaces required for next-generation electronic games,” Micalizzi said. “Our new GEN2 Universal printer, for example, anticipates new standards for the hottest trend in gaming—downloadable games.”
The GEN2™ Universal printers have been the company’s bread and butter in the gaming industry, and they provide a migration path and support all current and emerging game types by incorporating three game ports, including RS232, NetPlex and USB 2. As a platinum member of the Gaming Standards Association (GSA), FutureLogic participates in the development of communication standards and reference designs, sits on the board of directors and chairs the GSA’s GDS (Gaming Device Standards) committee.
Another key development from FutureLogic is the PromoNet solution, a template-based promotional coupon system.
“PromoNet will help casinos design and manage a wide range of promotional campaigns from the convenience of a workstation PC and can be used with any gaming machine that is equipped with the GSA version of FutureLogic’s popular GEN2 Universal or GEN2 VST Universal printer,” Edmunds said.
