“Built for What’s Next.” That’s the motto that has guided JCM Global for 70 years and that continues with the new iVIZION 2 bill validator. The product is light years ahead of any other competitive bill validator, builds on the original iVIZION, and is now making its way to casino floors.
JCM introduced the first embedded bill validators to gaming, and the original iVIZION set the tone for the industry on how slot machines and electronic gaming devices could improve security, increase efficiency, and boost the player experience. JCM has been a leader not only in slot machines, but also in the global ATM space. That banking experience helped company officials become aware that the slot machine industry was not keeping pace with advances in note security technology and set out to change the situation.
“When we were working on the original iVIZION in the mid-2000s, it was clear to us the gaming industry wasn’t advancing with technology fast enough in terms of note security,” says Senior Vice President Dave Kubajak. “So when we launched iVIZION in 2011, it brought a new level of technology to the industry, and it really brought that level of banking, ATM technology and performance to the casino space.”
Instead of using point-based sensors, iVIZION utilizes full digital imaging and high-resolution scanning when a bill or casino ticket is inserted – a gamechanger beyond simple waveforms previously available on other systems.
“When we transitioned to iVIZION with digital imaging, operators were able to see high-resolution images of the notes, front and back, in many different wavelengths, so they could see all the security features that are actually built into the note,” Kubajak says. “Nobody else had ever integrated that kind of technology into the gaming space before. After a period of five or six years, JCM began to completely dominate the industry. JCM was winning somewhere between 80% and 90% of all new casinos that opened in the world, using iVIZION products.”
The company has now upped the ante with iVIZION 2, combining even more advanced technology, innovation, speed, and sheer durability. Operators will find some real computing power and cutting-edge capabilities that revolutionize the industry again.
That link to the international banking industry has played a role in gearing the product toward what’s next. As an advisory board member of many central banks around the world, JCM offers input on what technology should be incorporated into bank notes. Those relationships help make currency more secure via more machine-readable features, authentication, and anti-counterfeiting measures.
“When we say this marketing tagline of ‘built for what’s next,’ it’s because all of the technology that we’re putting into the iVIZION 2 is truly designed to line up with each of the countries that are rolling out new currency over the next five to 10 years,” Kubajak says.
That extends to the American market, as the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will be rolling out a new series of notes in the coming years. Canada and Europe are also unveiling new bills, and iVIZION 2 is designed to take advantage of each note’s new security mechanisms to detect counterfeits.
“Every feature that they’ve got integrated into the banknotes, this product is designed to detect and authenticate,” Kubajak says. “We sat down with these advisory panels to talk about new technology for the physical currency. We aligned our product’s technology to match with that to make sure that our product truly is built for the future of currency creation and currency technology.”
In other words, it’s going to be extremely difficult for counterfeiters to gamble with a counterfeit bill. The bells and whistles under the hood make that all possible while also being user- and casino-friendly.
iVIZION 2 features four times the imaging resolution of the first-generation product, setting the company apart in a big way. JCM uses Contact Image Sensing technology that takes multi-wavelength readings of a banknote or TITO. Beyond that, the bill validator scans with multiple levels of infrared and UV technology, which the human eye can’t see.
“We’re able to see the hidden features in currency design that the human eye cannot see, and we do that at a resolution higher than anybody’s ever done,” Kubajak says. “For us, it was a four times increase in resolution imaging.”
The validator can read and detect a bill’s microscopic print as well as validating if the serial number and signatures are legitimate. In essence, the iVIZION 2 reads 25 million individual points of data in less than two seconds.
This speed allows players to quickly access games and makes for easy resolution with those who may believe they weren’t credited the right amount. iVIZION 2 is eight times more powerful than other products by utilizing artificial intelligence, which JCM has been successfully deploying for two decades.
So far, all the major slot manufacturers and numerous other OEMs in the industry have adopted the validator as the new standard. Operators will find the iVIZION 2 is twice as fast as other bill validators and is built to link up with JCM’s many systems.
One added advantage? While the initial iVIZION lasted about 500,000 cycles before needing repair, the updated version now goes two million cycles before needing maintenance – 10 times more than other bill validators.
“From an owner-operator perspective, they know if they buy iVIZON 2, they’re going to have to do very little maintenance, very little repair on the product,” Kubajak adds. “The reality is it will probably outlast the life of a slot machine. For a casino, that’s a big deal because when you make an investment in technology, you want it to last.”
