Millennium 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, gigabit internet services.

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 per cent 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 guest’s complaints about wi-fi reduce drastically,” Das said.

The new network has also resulted in cost savings associated with the 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.

Besides operational benefits like centralisation of administration of the wireless network and elimination of manual configuration of individual access points which save the IT team a considerable amount of time and effort, the technology has increased security of connections over wi-fi, which is a critical element, especially when it comes to business travellers. Advanced security features enable customisable network configurations based on the requirements of meetings and events.

Aruba’s wireless infrastructure serves as a platform that will enable Millennium Resort Mussanah to implement many innovations such as introduction of smart device control of room facilities including temperature settings, secure wi-fi Point of Sales (POS) systems and wireless hotel telephones including the ones in guest bathrooms for convenient and cost-free communications within the hotel premises.

“In Aruba, we have found a solutions partner that has met and exceeded our expectations in terms of technology and support and also provides us with a clear and exciting roadmap for the future. We are keen to expand the relationship by exploring new technologies from the company that will provide a competitive advantage in future,” said Das.

Taimoor Ahmed, enterprise manager, Oman at Aruba, said: “To remain competitive, hotels need to leverage a smarter, adaptive wireless network infrastructure that delivers stable, simple, smart, secure wi-fi access to thousands of devices at a time and supports mobile collaboration for staff. Millennium Resort Mussanah has done just that. We are proud to be associated with this prestigious hotel.” - TradeArabia News Service