SWISSCOM HELPS HOTELS TO SAVE COSTS THROUGH SHARED, DYNAMICALLY MANAGED BANDWIDTH
Hotels typically have two separate Internet connections in place, one for their back-office and one for the guest area. At Rome’s Hilton Airport hotel, things work out much better with Swisscom managing all connectivity through one shared network, providing bandwidth dynamically when and where it is needed. Optimizing bandwidth usage throughout the property, Swisscom reduces the hotel’s operational costs while increasing the effective speed for both guests and back-office users.
With 517 guest rooms, 21 meeting rooms and 70 back-office staff, Hilton Rome Airport has a strong demand for bandwidth in all hotel areas. In the meeting rooms, the greatest activity is during day-time while in the guest rooms, most bandwidth is consumed between 6 p.m. and midnight. As for its back-office, usage peaks several times during office hours but also between 3 and 5 a.m. with the electronic closing of the previous day’s business. Swisscom responds to the hotel’s specific needs by prioritising the right users at the right time, in accordance with specific rules set by the hotel. In addition, Swisscom is providing a redundancy solution for Hilton Rome Airport, ensuring a reliable connection even in the unlikely event that the primary circuit goes down. Swisscom’s dynamic bandwidth management is now operational at the Hilton Rome Airport and presently rolled out to many other Swisscom partner hotels.
“Thanks to Swisscom’s dynamic bandwidth management, we only need one network provider whilst gaining the flexibility when bandwidth peaks beyond the foreseen availability”, explains Katherine Schneider-King, general manager at the Hilton Rome Airport. “Depending on our actual needs at a given moment, we can prioritise bandwidth for our conference business, the guest rooms or our back-office. Here we see the real added value of our partnership with Swisscom: Their expertise as a bandwidth operator allows them to propose a unique solution that a Pay-TV provider or non-operator backed party is unable to deliver. Swisscom is really acting as a partner and helping us to reduce costs in these economically difficult times.”
To manage multiple data lines most intelligently through one converged network, Swisscom employs IBM Tivoli, an enterprise-grade network management toolset which it has adapted to the specific needs of the hotel industry. Through its access gateway, appropriate data routing and encryption technologies, all back-office data is systematically isolated from other circuits, excluding unauthorized access. Ensuring maximum service availability across all hotel areas, Swisscom’s Network Operations Centre pro-actively monitors the Hilton Airport’s network and circuits 24/7.
“As a network service provider for 2’200 partner locations in Europe and the United States, we have a unique mission to maximise the value of the IT infrastructure that we build and manage”, comments Leo Brand, CEO of Swisscom Hospitality Services. ”Over the past 12 months, we have greatly invested in our staff and our technology tools to drive efficiencies in the hotel’s operations. Integrating the back-office into their guest-facing data network, we now offer our partner hotels a direct bottom-line benefit of IP convergence.”
About Hilton Rome Airport
The Hilton Rome Airport is directly linked to Leonardo da Vinci Airport through a covered overpass featuring moving walkways. Modern and elegant, the hotel has 517 rooms, an Executive Floor with Executive Lounge and private check in/check out, restaurant, bar and bistrot, Fitness center, indoor pool, sauna, Turkish bath, 2 floodlit tennis courts, 5-a-side football pitch. Strategically positioned, Hilton Rome Airport is equipped to meet the needs of the most diverse conferences. Its Congress Center features 21 meeting rooms for over 1,800 delegates, including a ballroom with natural daylight accommodating up to 800 delegates, and more than 2,500 sqm of versatile event space.
About Swisscom Hospitality Services
Swisscom is a leader in IP convergent technology solutions for the global hospitality industry. Leveraging more than 150 years of telecommunications experience, the company provides clients with network-based communication solutions designed to meet their guests’ unique service requirements. Swisscom’s hotel and guest services are presently available in more than 2’000 partner hotels across Europe and North America, encompassing some 223.000 hotel rooms. Moreover, the company provides customised conference services at more than 10,000 events worldwide every year.
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