A new arm has been added to the Crane Payment Innovations portfolio of companies.

Crane Connectivity Solutions will help streamline and simplify the entire business process for operators. It is a joint venture between CPI and Crane Merchandising Systems.

It means that the group’s full suite of software, wireless hardware and applications are now brought together in one connectivity process and in the words of senior vice-president and general manager of CCS, Eric Kaled, operators will have "unprecedented visibility to their business processes, enabling them to make quick and informed decisions while improving efficiency and profitability."

Eric Fisher, CPI's president of gaming, added: “This is a natural progression for us where enhancing our EASITRAX solution has helped operaters unlock smarter and more profitable process efficiencies over the years.”

EASITRAX links the slot floor and the soft count room in casinos and it has now been enhanced to support the major developments in VLT operations in Europe. The system gathers performance data from SC note acceptors and channels it into a database that operators can use to streamline the drop process and carry out other functions.

Working with CCS there are now greater options for EASITRAX. Over a million vending machines are already using CCS software and over 400,000 cashless systems are now operating globally. CPI has locations in six countries and can offer local support to North America, Europe, Australia and the Middle East.