Case Studies

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Hotel Okura Amsterdam

Hotel Okura Amsterdam, is one of Amsterdam's leading business and convention hotels. As such it is committed to offering the best accommodations and service in the area by focusing on total guest satisfaction. Hotel Okura also wanted to be the first hotel in Amsterdam to have a wireless local area network (WLAN) and to offer wireless broadband Internet facilities in its lobby and lounge.

The hotel found itself fielding more and more inquiries from customers about the possibility of high performance broadband Internet facilities in their rooms. The hotel realized that by providing its guests with the ability to wirelessly access the Internet from anywhere within its facilities it could increase revenue by driving more business.

After researching the issue, Hotel Okura's management chose IBM and Cisco to help the hotel provide the Internet access its customers were increasingly demanding. The management's research indicated that those two technology providers had the ability to meet their total hardware, software and financing needs.

IBM Global Services - Integrated Technology Services (ITS) helped the hotel design and implement its new WLAN. ITS developed a plan for moving the current network to a WLAN and advised the hotel on technical issues such as network infrastructure and security. Then ITS moved forward with a project plan, which it carefully aligned with hotel activities, resources and timeline. Finally ITS deployed all of the WLAN components.

The new wireless infrastructure offers guests fast and safe access to the Internet and the hotel's intranet.

Hotel Okura management says that it anticipates that by offering high-speed Internet access for the guests, who are mainly business customers, it will be able to increase its occupancy rates from 65 percent to 85 percent. According to a hotel spokesperson, higher occupancy rates also will result in an increase in guest spending on other services (i.e. dining) by approximately 1.5 million per year.

The hotel also anticipates that by offering wireless broadband service, it will increase guest satisfaction and reinforce the hotel's image as an innovative facility.

Pechanga Resorts & Casino, Temecula, California

To be successful in the hotly contested hospitality industry requires that a venue operator offer its guests a distinctive array of services, including wireless Internet access. In 2002, while building its new hotel in Temecula, the resort's management, recognizing the competitive advantage of providing high-speed wireless Internet service to business guests, searched for a wireless solution that would be easily managed and monitored, and could work with its wired Ethernet network.

After consulting with a local value-added reseller (VAR), Technology Integration Group, and considering wireless products from both Cisco and 3Com, Pechanga management chose the 3Com solution, mainly for its ease of installation and use. For example, they were impressed with the 3Com 802.11b Wireless LAN AP 8000's web-based management, which enables administrators to easily adjust configuration parameters, run diagnostics, and monitor performance from any networked web browser.

The wireless LAN provides coverage in the convention center, ballrooms, meeting rooms and swimming pool of the new 522-room Pechanga Resorts & Casino in Temecula. The WLAN enables Pechanga guests with mobile computing devices (laptop or PDA) to stay connected, throughout the hotel property. Powered by the practical, high-value 3Com solution, the 2700-employee hotel hopes the WLAN will help to attract thousands of additional business customers per year to its facilities.

"The 3Com wireless solution allows us to provide our business guests with a unique first-class amenity," said Rod Luck, director of information technology, Pechanga Resorts & Casino. "Thanks to our 3Com wireless solution, our on-the-go guests easily connect to their corporate intranets, conduct videoconferences and do everything they would be able to do in the office-and we've gained a valuable competitive advantage."

For instance, 16 3Com APs were strategically installed so as to link end-users to the hotel's wired Gigabit Ethernet network and three 3Com Ethernet Client Bridges (ECBs). This wireless infrastructure enables Pechanga to offer its convention guests a variety of choices for Internet connectivity. Any guest whose computer lacks wireless capabilities can effortlessly connect to the Internet by plugging the device into one of the wallet-sized ECBs and they are off and running-able to quickly and securely conduct business with customers and clients.

The 3Com APs can support any Wi-Fi certified PC Card, allowing guests to easily connect to the Internet using their pre-existing system configurations. But if a guest wants, the hotel does provide 3Com Wireless LAN PC Cards to plug into their laptop. With features such as 128-bit encryption and Dynamic Security Link, the 3Com PC cards protect against data theft. The cards also interoperate seamlessly with guests' corporate virtual private networks (VPNs) and security solutions to ensure trouble-free operation. This, in turn, helps to eliminate end-user support burdens that might fall on Pechanga employees' shoulders.

Since each 3Com AP extends wireless coverage for up to 1000 feet and can support up to 256 simultaneous users, the resort complex can accommodate meetings and conventions of virtually any size. Luck adds, "3Com's high-value wireless solution enables us to provide a convenient, premium-quality service that greatly enhances business travelers' experience and satisfaction." He concludes, "As a result, our new hotel and convention center is better equipped to attract and retain them as customers, and we couldn't be more pleased."

The World's Largest HotSpot

Technology giant, Cisco Systems; consulting firm, Cap Gemini Ernst Young; and RATP, the agency that runs the Paris Metro, have formed a partnership called "Wixos" in order construct a system that can envelope Paris in a Wi-Fi "cloud." The partnership hopes to make Paris the world's largest HotSpot.

The consortium is installing two or three Cisco access points outside each of Paris' 372 Metro stations and then linking these APs to an existing fiber optics network in the subway tunnels. This allows RATP to provide the Internet backbone. The "cloud" also will extend to the street, thereby allowing anyone in the vicinity of an AP to access the Internet.

The initial pilot project is centered along Bus No. 38's route. Interested users can subscribe to the pilot, which initially is offered free of charge.

Jean-Paul Figer, Cap Gemini's chief technology officer, told the International Herald Tribune that he thought of wireless connectivity as similar to a television remote control: "We believe that giving this connectivity will develop a lot of new applications. Trucks, buses, cars, the same application has much better value if you get this kind of mobility. It's exactly like your TV remote control. It's only three meters, but it changes your life."

It is estimated that installation costs to blanket Paris will be less than $11.5 million. Although the Wixos partnership is building the system, the Internet connection is to be provided by other, separate commercial companies; for instance, Bouygues Telecom, Club Internet, Tele2, TLC Mobile, Wifi Spot, and Wifix.

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