"Given the hotel's five floors and unique construction meant that particularly the guests' living area was almost always obstructed, resulting in poor Wi-Fi coverage," said Ernst Karner, group IT manager for the Peermont property management group. "The existing solution consisted of 30 ineffective APs deployed throughout the building and while initial suggestions were to increase the number of APs, we quickly concluded that this was not a cost effective solution. As such, we were looking for a provider who could offer us superior connectivity and due to Ruckus Wireless's advanced ZoneFlex Access Points (APs) with 'beamforming technology', the company met the selection criteria in terms of infrastructural stability, connectivity and flexibility."
Ruckus ZoneFlex 7962 dual-band APs with 'beamforming technology' kept the number of concurrent connections low, which allowed for the deployment of cost effective repeaters. The ZoneFlex 7962 is based on adaptive antenna technology that extends signal range 2 - 4 times while minimising packet loss by constantly routing Wi-Fi transmissions over the highest performing signal paths. It is the world's only enterprise-class AP that concurrently supports Automatic Interference Mitigation (AIM), spatial multiplexing and adaptive antenna technology.
In addition to the Access Points, a simple and intuitive management interface was provided with the Ruckus Wireless ZoneDirector controller, capable of managing up to 500 ZoneFlex Smart Wi-Fi access points from a single location. The Ruckus ZoneDirector 3000 is designed for simplicity and ease of use as it integrates the Ruckus Smart/OS application engine that delivers advanced features such as smart wireless meshing, high availability, hot spot authentication, elegant guest networking and dynamic Wi-Fi security - essential for any hotel operation.
"With the proliferation of mobile devices and tablet computers in use by consumers and business travellers alike, there has come increased pressure on hotel operators to provide steady, reliable wireless broadband access while also ensuring there is plenty of bandwidth to go around," says Michael Fletcher, Sales Director for Ruckus Wireless, Sub-Saharan Africa. "We were not only able to provide reliable coverage of previously difficult to reach areas with our beamforming technology, but we were also able to meet guest and business requirements, providing improved ROI. We were also able to future proof the Hotel's connectivity as the ZoneFlex 7962 is able to constantly find the best RF paths for each packet, and as such, D'oreal Grande Hotel should not have to worry about constant site surveys as the environment changes."
