JOURNAL APRIL 2009 NUMBER 04
The PMC Star 3000 totalizator: the spearhead to conquer international markets Vigipack® systems make Cagnes-sur-Mer racecourse a safer place ASOP: watching over the Pari Mutuel system SGCPM Bruxelles
Groupe Carrus: closer to the horseracing world than ever before An interview with Jérôme and Pierre-Antoine Carrus
2
INTERVIEW
Closer to the horseracing world than ever before An interview with Groupe Carrus directors Jérôme and Pierre-Antoine Carrus Groupe Carrus Journal (GCJ) – Groupe Carrus Journal, the new name, must mean something. Can you tell us a little bit more about it? Jérôme Carrus (JC) – It’s simple: the gaming market is opening up so it is important to stand out with a name that makes sense, that makes a statement and that people will instantly recognize. The name had to link our two business lines (we supply solutions and provide services). The difference between those two business lines will become clearer now: one arm will cement its B2B focus and the other will be stretching its B2C arm. Why Groupe Carrus? Our two company names – PMC and CPM – were confusing, even though the letters P and M had a lot to do with our history and with the horserace-betting world. So we decided to cut through the confusion: ‘Groupe’ means we are working together, ‘Carrus’ is our home turf: it is all about races and racecourses. Our partner firms often though the C meant Carrus, so it was time to say what it really meant. But Pari Mutuel is at the core of everything we do. That is what our international tagline –The Parimutuel Company – is all about. GCJ – You said the market was opening up. What does that mean for Groupe Carrus? JC – As we see it, opening up is a rather good thing. It means tearing down walls, getting closer together and embracing challenges. I can’t see why people often feel threatened by it. It is this amazing wide open area for everyone, for everyone in our business. The main question when a market
Direction de la publication : Jérôme Carrus Rédaction en chef : Florence Rossollin - Direction artistique : Raphaël Michon - Maquette : Isabelle Achouri - Coordination/Édition : Markcom Rédaction : Marie Chasteau de Balyon, Lilian Barbier Photos : Yann Pendaries, Simon Bouisson 30, rue des Petits-Hôtels F-75010 PARIS Tel 33 (0)1 42 49 89 11 www.groupecarrus.com
opens up is what you have to offer. And French races rank among the world’s best. The quality of the content is unquestionable. GCJ – But, in practice, how are you preparing for the coming changes? Pierre-Antoine Carrus (PAC) – As we always have: as professionally as we possibly can. We look for the best technical solutions to deliver the flawless, efficient and robust systems that the horserace-gaming business needs. Our company has developed a central information system, the Star 3000 (there is an article about it in this issue), that only a handful of companies worldwide can match. I believe selfservice systems are looking forward to an especially promising future. And we have an edge here: the first new Star 2060 terminal are rolling off production lines and will soon be up and running in every racecourse in France and Frenchspeaking Switzerland. The Star 2021 convertible terminal, which we have patented, and which turns a betting unit into a self-service gaming terminal in seconds, is another example. GCJ – Some people might not understand exactly what B2B and B2C mean… JC – B2B stands for Business to Business. That is what the PMC solutions that CPM provides for racecourses are all about. And B2C stands for Business to Consumers. That is what teams in contact with gamers in racecourses do. We feel racecourse gamers’ wants and needs aren’t getting enough attention. The day gamers stop
going to races, racecourses will have a problem. They are the real clients. And amateur gamers who enjoy horse races will find the first-class quality they are looking for in France, wherever they are around the world. GCJ – So you are confident about the future… JC and PAC – Yes. Groupe Carrus has risen to every challenge that the French Horseracing Organization has encountered over four generations now. The first generation invented Pari Mutuel and established it in 1891. The second generation founded PMU in 1931 then invented and established the Tiercé in 1954. The third generation upgraded bet collection and processing tools. The fourth generation has already equipped Groupe Carrus for the globalization age, has moved Groupe Carrus into nearly 20 countries and is working closer to the horseracing world than ever before to embrace the open market and turn this adventure into a categorical success story. And yes because we sincerely believe that there is room for everyone: for big and small companies, for companies in every business line and for companies in every field of expertise. It is not the players that are already on the market that have to compete. We won’t be doing that at Groupe Carrus. We will be working together, as a complementary team, to respond. We are certain that international players are ready to pounce on any untapped market niche. And they might be less scrupulous.
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VIGIPACK®
Vigipack systems make Cagnes-sur-Mer racecourse a safer place ®
Synergies between Groupe Carrus and Vigipack® – its video-surveillance specialist – are playing a prominent role stepping up security in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France’s biggest racecourse after Vincennes. The respect and passion for the racing world that they share is no doubt the key. As many as 600 horses can gather in Cagnes-sur-Mer racecourse stall on a race metting day (and there are 84 of them a year!). Behind every one of those horses there is a substantial financial and human investment. That is why Société des Courses de la Côte d’Azur was intent on keeping them all as safe as possible. Protecting the horses and staff The Cité* des Oliviers, where the horses that Alexandre Maniloff, the Vigipack® head sales engineer in Southeast France, calls the champions gather, has had videosurveillance cameras monitoring the stalls and corridors since last January. So the owners and coaches gathering for the 8 March Speed Heat, which will count the best horses in that category, can relax and enjoy: the cameras are watching over them and the Vigipack® Cube2 recorder is storing what they capture. Bord-de-Mer, Nationale 7, Centre and every other cité in
Vigipack® in five French cities After the hits at the ExpoProtection trade show last November, the Vigipack® teams are meeting their clients and prospects in French regions and will be organizing a string of exchanges and exhibitions throughout 2009.
that racecourse will be equipped by the end of 2009. Forestalling ill intent The Vigipack® system watches over facilities day and night as it includes floodlights that switch on as soon as sensors pick up the slightest movement. This option means that the solution can use high-definition cameras, which are much more effective than infrared ones. The goal, here, is to forestall wrongdoing, not monitor the racecourse backstage (the cameras do not record inside the stalls). So this system is a deterrent. It does not expose offences targeting horses (people opening stalls, mistreating horses, etc), or facilities (theft or damage). *A ‘Cité’, in Cagnes, is a cluster of stalls.
One of the video surveillance cameras in operation in Cagnes-sur-Mer racecourse since January 2009
The drive kicked off in Toulouse on 25 and 26 March. Lille, Lyon, Nantes or Rennes and Paris will follow. The exchanges will be serving two goals: present the new products for 2009 and cement the Vigipack® organization’s decentralization. Modulo and Presence, the two new products for 2009 Modulo will be available in the second half of 2009 and is exactly what banks and chain stores with a number of branches or outlets need. It simultaneously records shots from 16 color (or black and white) cameras at 25 frames a second, and up to 16 soundtracks. Presence is a new feature that will slowly but surely be built into every deal in the range. This major breakthrough senses and counts people in a given area. The new regional organization is up and running The Vigipack® organization decentralization drive, which began in 2008, will be fully operational in 2009. New staff will bolster the sales-engineering teams in Toulouse, Nice, Le Mans and Bordeaux, and we will have inventory in six regional spots.
4
PRODUCTS
The PMC Star 3000 totalizator:
Communication Network Security
A one-size-fits-all—but amazingly flexible—solution Star 3000 technology uses the latest standard hardware systems that the market has tried and tested. Choosing and using the best components is what PMC Software Division Central Systems Manager Yann Launay spends his day doing. The software system is the same: the Unix system uses a
Platform
Op
The PMC Star 3000 software flowchart
basic structure, in other words, is the same. But every setting can be tuned to match each client’s specific requirements. Betting protocols can vary considerably from one country to another, and regulations and habits can require tailored development. Building in the Cyrillic alphabet – which the team did in record time – or providing three-decimal-point figure accuracy to meet requirements on certain betting options are two examples.
OTHER OPERATORS
Central Server STAR 3000
Backup and Disaster recovery
Network
(WIFI, GPRS, UMTS, ADSL, WIMAX,...)
INTERNET
OFF-TRACK BETTING SHOP
Betting terminals Self service machines Personal kiosk Personal assistant
The general architecture
Sales network
Da
Data Access
standard relational database system that concurrently provides outstanding security and flexible stored data access. Because standardization is the first goal but flexibility is the second one. Yann Launay explains: “The Star 3000 is not a static structure built around a stiff core: it is a solution that bends around your needs.” The
Tote Systems
Personn Termin control
Bets processing
The Star 3000 real-time, high-availability server centralizes and processes every transaction from any connected self-service terminal, counter-top terminal, PDA, website and more. The smart choice of technical options and features, and the teams busy supporting it, make the Star 3000 perfect for Pari Mutuel operators that want a stateof-the-art solution that bends around their specific needs.
Operations management
Application Services
Bets management
the spearhead to conquer international markets
The Star 3000—the 6th-generation Pari Mutuel transaction system—is packed with the expertise that PMC R&D teams have been honing to perfection over the past 40 years. The result is a categorical breakthrough and takes efficiency to new heights. This system handles bets from 805 racing events in 186 racecourses across France, and is blazing trails abroad, especially around Europe and in Africa. Pari Mutuel operators in Burkina Faso, Germany, Mali, Morocco, Sénégal, Spain, Switzerland and Tunisia are using the Star 3000 and enjoying the efficient, versatile, dependable, secure and fast-response features that have been PMC’s hallmarks from the start.
Betting Terminals controler
Network Access
RACECOURSE
Betting terminals Self service machines Personal assistant
5
LAN / WAN
– in 1997, using a Star 3000 system connected to the various American-
simply put, means gamers around the world can bet on races around the world.
Firewall
side totalizators. But the Star 3000 is not only open: it is packed with features too. The core feature, of course, is horserace-bet management. Handling French bets is a handsome reference (France has earned a reputation as home to the world’s widest horserace-gaming network). But features also include bet taking in different currencies and languages. Plus the Star 3000 can manage bets on virtual races and over the Internet. Virtual-race applications allow operators to run events that patrons can bet on every five minutes, between the real-life events. This modern and fun gaming option is
And it provides a wealth of information about horses’ backgrounds, ranking, statistics and more, which is not always available in other distribution venues.
Third parties and other systems
Information broadcast
Security Authentification procedure
Reporting
Other devices controler
WEB Server
Accounts and POS management
management
nnal nals ler
ata Base RDBMS
UNIX perating System
Up to 50,000 transactions from thousands of connected terminals — every minute The Star 3000 is perfect for small operators running a few dozen terminals – and the solution for companies simultaneously handling dozens of racecourses and several million transactions a day. Its transaction-management capacity ranks among the fastest on the market. It can handle up to 50,000 transactions a minute – meaning that an operator can generate up to €200,000 in revenue a minute (!) without compromising reliability or availability. The redundant and breakdown-tolerant hardware and software solutions add up to optimum functional security and operational dependability. Taking bets anywhere, anytime The Star 3000’s architecture was originally open to connect to other Star 3000 or other Pari Mutuel systems. Gamers in France, Switzerland, Monaco, Germany, Austria and the Basque country in Spain, for instance, placed bets on the Breeder’s Cup – a highlight in the US horseracing world
Philippe de March, PMC Software Department
especially popular in downtown outlets for the entertainment it provides between rates. Internet bet taking, the latest breakthrough, came in 2008 and is bound to develop. This new feature,
Yann Launay, PMC Software Department Central Systems Manager, in his office in PMC Saint-Maur outside Paris.
A solid and groundbreaking team that moves fast—like the Star 3000 The technicians, engineers and experts on the team are as dedicated to PMC client success as the Star 3000. They love their jobs and enjoy using their expertise to blaze new trails. But, as Yann Launay sees it, this team’s responsiveness is its main strength: “The fact that we can react fast is a huge advantage. That is what makes us agile enough to deliver the content that our clients need, when they need it.” PMC has always ranked quality at the top of its list of values. But the ISO-9001v2000 certification it earned in 2007 gave it a formal framework to steer and streamline its efforts in project mode. PMC Software Director Philippe de March and his Star 3000 team were especially keen on adjusting to the new quality-initiative requirements: “It’s a motivating organization. It’s totally focused on the service we provide for clients and puts us in a position to make the solutions we deliver for Pari Mutuel operators as efficient and effective as possible.”
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TEAMS
Duty variety Making sure everything goes smoothly on race days is only one of the ASOP team’s duties. It also trains new clients and provides on-site support when they start up new systems. They work side by side with customers every day of the week during production rollout phases. Grégoire Guillou’s revenue team is meanwhile relentlessly tracking down and weeding out possible system faults. ASOP tests every possible race and environment scenario to push the system to the limit, to identify areas it can perfect to make it even more reliable.
Jean-Marc Blondel, ASOP manager, and Michel Remaud, one of the members of the team, in the new control room at Groupe Carrus HQ on rue des Petits-Hôtels in Paris
ASOP: watching over the Pari Mutuel system Monitoring Star 3000 transactions and keeping them flowing smoothly, monitoring and correcting incidents real time, clearing upgrades, training new clients and supporting system startup are a few of the things that ASOP does all day long at Groupe Carrus.
An organization focused on client service Perfecting the organization is another goal: the ISO-9001V2000 quality process bolstered the anomaly-management system with real-time and ongoing exchanges between ASOP, developers, researchers and production staff. The new organization has improved the method for monitoring upgrades and corrective action on central system and new terminal software, to deal with evolving client requirements faster. PDAs enabling gamers to place bets anywhere are one example: development and revenue teams worked together to build this system which will roll out across our full racecourse network starting this year. * The ASOP team Operations: Michel Remaud—Arnaud Bommert, Claude Sarazin, Philippe Tirard-Collet and Fulya
ASOP stands for ASsistance OPérationnelle (Operation Support) and this department holds the keys that developers and engineers have handed it to access the core systems in PMC client facilities. Not one bet has ever gone missing on PMC systems and terminals to date. Not one. A ticket for every bet: that, in a nutshell, is what ASOP does.
Canak (part-time). Revenue: Grégoire Guillou—Michaël Bordas, Alain Gomes, Christine Lopes, Hélène Mourez.
On a typical race day 00:00 The international system starts up
The 24-hour hotline
Nonstop supervision worldwide ASOP is not in charge of a small geographic area: it handles nearly 300 racecourses in France and abroad, and hundreds of branches across Europe and in Africa. You would think that excited crowds bustling to place millions of bets at the same time could at least cause a few availability hiccups. But ASOP provides nonstop support worldwide. Its team is always there working at it and on alert to support clients any time of day or night, any day of the year.
Polyvalent team-member profiles boost responsiveness The ten people that ASOP founder Jean-Marc Blondel supervises have huge responsibilities. They are in charge of running and monitoring bet taking*. There are two distinct departments—operations and revenue —but the teams work in both: they handle client service and provide technical services when anomalies arise. They are at home with information technologies, keen on new breakthroughs in their fields, and have to foresee and forestall any incident that might occur on a race day. Their polyvalence means that the team is versatile enough to move fast, and make decisions in split seconds. And they have to be poised enough, for instance, to calculate returns by hand five minutes after the end of a race if the system fails.
08:30 – 11:00 The national system starts up CPM system management Connection to PMU international system 11:00 Bet-taken operations begin 13:30 – 18:00 (or 23:30 if the races are at night) Race monitoring National racecourse support Moroccan greyhound track management 18:00 – 00:00 Hotline support when systems close
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INTERNATIONAL
Tunisia:
a challenge for PMC Horseracing traditions run deep in Tunisia. The first Société d’Encouragement was established in 1884 and the people’s enthusiasm has not flagged since. Mnaouer Benhissi runs ATS (the Agence Tunisienne de Solidarité) and his plans to substantially step up his company’s bet-taking led him to ask PMC to automate the full network.
Mnaouer Benhissi, President of ATS (Agence Tunisienne de Solidarité)
The former system was partly manual and could no longer handle all the bets to regulatory requirements or keep up with ATS’ growth plans, so it was undermining its efforts to develop its sales network. And it was a tough job for the PMC team, which had to build Tunisia’s singular gaming constraints into the solution. Manual to automatic Groupe Carrus and ATS signed the betting-automation contract in July 2006, once PMC had won the deal on the strength of its technically sound and financially sensible bid. Work automating Tunisia’s five betting agencies and Ksar Saïd racecourse began on 9 May 2007. The first step only involved direct bets during the gathering. ATS President Mnaouer Benhissi adds, “PMC made a considerable effort, especially on the technical-support front.” PMC teams were on-site throughout this first phase making sure the operation unfurled smoothly. In February 2008, ATS decided to use the PMC system to take bets downtown before the event. The number of outlets rose from 44 to 66 and Tunisian gamers can claim their earnings as soon as the race is over (and not way 48 hours as they had to when the system was manual). Faster money circulation has spurred a 30% leap in revenue, that will go to efforts to develop the horseracing world and society. But it was hard work developing the
solution that Groupe Carrus delivered, as the specs on that projects were complex – to put it mildly. Tunisian regulations pose a challenge for PMC engineers The ATS Tunisia project involved developing a full IT system (a Star 3000 central server and 2015 and 2005 terminals) taking bets from outlets across the country. But it was not the size of the project that gave PMC Technical Project Manager Chaouki
Singular bets Ticket Bleu An option that automatically turns wins on one bet into bets on a later race. Unless otherwise stated, a Ticket Bleu is a simple bet. There are two types of Ticket Bleu: • The Ticket Bleu Gagnant or Ticket Bleu Placé, which is tantamount to two simple bets in the French system. Gamers bet on the first or first three horses in a race. • The Report Gagnant or Report Placé covers a variety of options. Subject to regulatory compliance, wins on the first bet can be wagered on a later race. Ticket Bleu wins are calculated on the same basis as similar French bets. Pari Double A bet on the winner of two meeting races.
The former manual slip and computer receipt for a Ticket Bleu bet
Jaouadi and Terminal Team Manager Abdel Hajfani a hard time: “Complex Tunisian regulations and the very specific betting variants were what really made the project complex.” ATS for example wanted to include its well-known Ticket Bleu Report (two gets on two races, with wins from the first race transferred to the second). Gamers used to tick boxes on a form, so the challenge mainly involved engineering the keyboard ergonomics to accommodate all the variants and print them on a single receipt in one operation. That might sound simple for laypeople, but computer engineers will cringe!
Pro2Pro
> Modulo
Vigipack is the professional video-surveillance system that sets the pace—and the system that the main banking networks have chosen. You want to focus on what you do best: selling and serving clients. So Vigipack can develop the tailored solution that your chain needs. Growing threats and wrongdoing in growing sensitive areas means you need constant, flawless control—i.e. the best technology on the market, to meet or exceed regulations, and the guarantee that secure-information-system specialist PMC can provide.
Markcom
www.vigipack.com
distribution
network security