MGM Grand Hotel/Casino Implements Wireless Point-of-Sale Application

Strategic Insights -

MGM Grand Hotel/Casino, the City of Entertainment in Las Vegas, has formed a partnership with IBM, InfoGenesis, and Symbol Technologies to implement a unique customer service-driven wireless point-of-sale (POS) application in retail areas where standard networking poses cabling difficulties. The company has already been using the InfoGenesis Retail POS application on 45 IBM 4694 POS terminals since 1996 to ring up sales at its diverse range of retail outlets. With this new partnership, MGM Grand aims to provide retail purchasing at the pool area and on the casino floor, leveraging the Symbol Spectrum24 LAN, a high-performance wireless LAN that offers open standards for easy installation, high throughput, and superior interference immunity.

Key Takeaways:

  • MGM Grand Hotel/Casino has partnered with IBM, InfoGenesis, and Symbol Technologies to implement a wireless point-of-sale (POS) application in retail areas.
  • The company has used the InfoGenesis Retail POS application on 45 IBM 4694 POS terminals since 1996 to ring up sales at its retail outlets.
  • Symbol Technologies' Spectrum24 LAN was chosen for its high-performance, open standards, and superior interference immunity.
  • The wireless POS application will be available at the pool area and on the casino floor, leveraging the Spectrum24 Access Points to create a wireless Ethernet bridge between the host computer network and the IBM 4694 POS terminals.
  • MGM Grand made a strategic decision to use wireless over adding network cabling to the pool area or casino floor due to cost efficiency.
  • John Harker, director hospitality and gaming at Symbol Technologies, stated that the Symbol Spectrum24 wireless LAN is the ideal solution for areas where running cable is cost-prohibitive or not practical.
  • Steve Hoffman, manager of retail services & development at MGM Grand, chose IBM, InfoGenesis, and Symbol for their commitment to the gaming industry and flexibility in working with customers.

Statistics:

  • MGM Grand uses 45 IBM 4694 POS terminals for the InfoGenesis Retail POS application.
  • Symbol's wireless LAN solutions are installed at more than 30,000 customer locations worldwide, supporting more than 6 million Symbol scanners and hand-held computers.
  • Symbol provides point-of-activity computing solutions for various industries, including retailing, transportation, distribution logistics, parcel and postal delivery, health care, manufacturing, and more.
  • InfoGenesis has customers throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Asia, including Starwood Lodging, New York-New York Casino, Hilton Gaming, Excalibur Casino, and Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.

Sources:

  • IBM, Mobile and Wireless Services Center
  • Symbol Technologies, Wireless Solutions
  • InfoGenesis, Point-of-Sale Systems for Hospitality and Food Service Industries
  • MGM Grand Hotel/Casino, Press Release, September 28, 1998