By Computerworld Philippines Staff
April 27, 2010

Ruckus Wireless announced Monday that its “Smart Wi-Fi” systems and technology are being rapidly adopted by leading hotels and resorts around the world to support converged multimedia services. In fact, the company has added 65 new hotel customers in 60 days.

With its explosive growth in the hospitality sector in the first quarter of 2010, Ruckus said the increased demand reflects the growing importance among hotels for a more reliable and unified Wi-Fi infrastructure that enables enhanced multimedia services, improved operational efficiency, new guest services and a superior guest experience.

One of the 65 hotels and properties that selected the Ruckus system is Mandarin Oriental, which has installed or is evaluating installing the next generation Wi-Fi system from Ruckus, including them in its hotel branches in Tokyo, Manila, Jakarta, Sanya, London and in Hong Kong. In Manila for instance, Mandarin Oriental has deployed a single smart Wi-Fi network with some 200 indoor Ruckus ZoneFlex Smart Wi-Fi APs to support guest wireless access as well as in-house communication for hotel staff equipped with SpectraLink VoIP over Wi-Fi phones.
 
Like many hotels around the world, Ruckus said Mandarin Oriental has seen a dramatic uptake in Wi-Fi usage across all of its properties as guests now travel with a myriad of Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Today, guest wireless access in Mandarin Oriental hotels averages from 60% to 80% usage.

Nick Price, CIO/CTO of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, said Wi-Fi is much more than an amenity for Mandarin’s hotels.

“Wi-Fi is a fundamental part of the technology infrastructure, a core part of the hotel product and, importantly, a key expectation from a significant percentage of our guests,” Price said. “Good Wi-Fi is also not an option, nor is it an accident. It takes knowledge, research, time and some considerable effort to deliver – but what a difference it makes.”

Price added hotels are highly dynamic environments where delivering actionable information to the point of need quickly and reliably is fundamental to the provision of good customer service.

“Guests are mobile, our employees are mobile, and therefore our business application portfolio must also be mobile. Much of our effort is directed towards mobile applications today, and this will only increase into the future,” Price said.

From high-end luxury resorts to smaller, budget-friendly accommodations, Ruckus said hotel properties around the globe are migrating to higher-speed 802.11n Wi-Fi and beamforming technology found in Ruckus ZoneFlex systems to offer a wider range of services over a more stable wireless infrastructure. 

The services being migrated to wireless include: in-room device controls (minibars, HVAC systems), voice-over-Wi-Fi for inter-departmental communications, IP-based HD video on demand, digital advertising, service optimization and wireless point-of-sale (POS) devices. 

Through its wireless networking infrastructure portfolio, Ruckus said hotels and their guests can reap the many benefits from more efficient food and beverage ordering services, automated guest registration kiosks, IP-based video on demand and high-speed Internet access, among other services.

“Hotels view IP-based services, not just wireless Internet access, as strategic to their future,” said Ted Watson, global director of Hospitality Solutions for Ruckus. “Almost anything you can imagine in a hotel room can be controlled over an IP network. This creates enormous benefits and economies of scale for hotels and their guests.  But for this vision to become a reality, the wireless network must operate as predictably as any utility.  Our technology innovations have made Wi-Fi this reliable.” – Tom S. Noda

Possibly Related Posts:

• 5 Tips for Social Business Adoption: How SAS Succeeded
• AMD aims for better graphics in casinos, hospitals with new chips
• EMC acquires Syncplicity for cloud file management
• Chrome trumps IE as world’s top browser
• Avaya lays out roadmap for unified software management

 Print This Post