Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 30 | Page 62

CASE STUDY M illennium Resort Mussanah, an upscale lifestyle destination, beachfront resort in Oman, has deployed powerful new 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology from Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, in order to provide guests and staff with high-speed Wi-Fi. EASE OF CONNECTIVITY AND THE SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERAGE AND PERFORMANCE HAVE RESULTED IN A SIGNIFICANT DROP IN HELPDESK CALLS. 62 INTELLIGENTCIO The implementation has resulted in excellent wireless coverage across the expansive 300 hectare property and a significant reduction in help desk calls pertaining to Wi-Fi connectivity issues. The wireless infrastructure also acts as a platform for innovation to support ambitious future plans of the hotel. Pramod Das, IT Manager, Millennium Resort Mussanah, said: “Today, while most hotels offer free Wi-Fi to their guests, the concerns of travellers have shifted from the availability of complimentary hotel Wi-Fi to the user experience on those wireless networks. Quality of Wi-Fi has become a competitive differentiator within the industry. We realised the need to upgrade our infrastructure in order to meet our customers’ growing expectations, since we faced intermittent performance issues such as signal drops and fluctuations with our earlier technology. “Aruba was an obvious choice when selecting a solution provider considering the numerous high-profile hospitality brands in its customer base and its world class technology combined with the technical competency of the design, installation and support teams.” The hotel installed the latest Aruba enterprise-grade hospitality 802.11ac access points (APs) in guest rooms, corridors, guest public areas and outdoor sections of the hotel, ensuring 100% Wi-Fi coverage of the hotel premises. While earlier guests faced issues of Wi- Fi connection dropping while moving around the property and transitioning from one AP to another, with the new Wi-Fi infrastructure in place, guests now enjoy seamless roaming due to Aruba’s ClientMatch technology and dedicated speeds of up to 1Mbps. Ease of connectivity and the significant improvements in coverage and performance have resulted in a significant drop in helpdesk calls pertaining to issues with Internet connectivity. “Now that we have a very reliable wireless infrastructure, we have seen the guests’ complaints about Wi-Fi reduce drastically,” said Mr Das. The new network has also resulted in cost savings associated with reduction in expensive bandwidth requirements. Prior to the implementation, the hotel was planning to upgrade the Internet bandwidth because of regular guest complaints regarding connectivity and slow speed. But this is no longer an issue. www.intelligentcio.com