Group items tagged

many hoteliers might be interested to learn that the most common concerns about fiber have been addressed in recent years, making it a viable alternative to copper cabling

fiber is not a new technology at all

fiber is actually stronger and more flexible to work with than copper

the cable television model is old and broken, and the need for lower-cost alternatives is growing. The timing may be right for companies like Aereo to transform cable television the way Apple and Google changed wireless

Aereo uses a variety of technologies to get all the channels you want to watch. It uses antennas to capture local TV signals and store the broadcast content in the cloud. It makes other channels available over the Web. It provides live TV on smartphones, computers and tablets, in addition to your television, through a set-top box.

We may indeed be about to step into a new universe of ideas and products in the television industry -- at entirely new pricing models. This change will sweep the industry and affect us all. Many new companies will pressure existing market leaders. Those that can change can continue to lead. Those that can't will wither and die the way the long-distance industry did a decade ago.

Douglas Rice, Executive Vice President and CEO of Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG), a non-profit industry trade association. "Beyond that, the hospitality market clearly sees the enormous benefits that an IP-based network brings in delivering a better guest experience, new services that will drive customer loyalty and better staff productivity across their hotels."

Ruckus contends that, for many existing hotels, Ethernet cabling is sparse or not available in every guest room. Even in locations such as the front desk, conference rooms, meeting spaces and business centers, Ethernet ports and wireless connectivity is limited.

The wireless provider maintains that, according to industry estimates, running a single Ethernet cable can cost up to $250 per guest room. When Wi-Fi access points, network switches, and other infrastructure products essential to running a computer network are added that cost can rise to $500 or more per room.

Most people are familiar with the concept of a dead man's switch that, for example, activates the emergency brake should a London Underground train driver become incapacitated.

The current technology is creating opportunities for hospitality providers that specialize in hotel technical infrastructure: a hosted provider of not only voice, but PMS, Internet access, premises infrastructure. Several hybrid IP systems now support a gateway mode – where the on-premises solution is effectively a gateway controlling all the analog rooms. Centrally managed and controlled – integrated into a multi-tenant web based PMS – backed by a 24-hour help desk and NOC, could be the ticket to get hospitality VoIP.

Two issues are keeping IP out of the rooms: complexity and cost. The local staff just don’t have the time or skills to deal with complex phone systems. Even selling local ads isn’t worth the cost or effort of replacing the system, though these benefits could be more attractive regionally, or even nationally. IP systems make a lot of sense for the business phones, but room phones are likely to remain analog for now due to the cost disparity of the endpoints. IP phones continue to get cheaper, and maintenance of copper lines continues to rise. Eventually, the phones will become IP.

The rooms mostly remain analog, but IP phones offer benefits at higher-end properties. IP phones offer the elimination of separate cabling. Hotels could potentially sell ads on the phone that range from color picture ads to speed-dial settings like “Pizza Delivery.” Some vendors are creating optimized phone-top IP applications for hospitality that make it easier to request a car from valet parking, book a tee time, or check out. IP phones could also be designed to be a mini access point to support the increasing number of tablets.

Adam Stewart, CEO of the award-winning Sandals Resorts International, today gave top marks to LIME, the Caribbean division of Cable & Wireless Communications.

"The hospitality industry expects and deserves the best in communication services - our guests look forward to communicating back home to share their experiences and demand speed, reliability and stability," said Mr. Stewart.

Other businesses in the Caribbean that have dealt with LIME immediately congratulated The Bahamas on the choice of company.

This article is about Internet Protocol Television. For public television broadcasting in Iowa, see Iowa Public Television. Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is a system through which television services are delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as the Internet, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal, and cable television formats. IPTV services may be classified into three main groups:

Historically, many different definitions of IPTV have appeared, including elementary streams over IP networks, transport streams over IP networks and a number of proprietary systems. One official definition approved by the International Telecommunication Union focus group on IPTV (ITU-T FG IPTV) is: "IPTV is defined as multimedia services such as television/video/audio/text/graphics/data delivered over IP based networks managed to provide the required level of quality of service and experience, security, interactivity and reliability."

Hotel

A hotels Point of Sale (POS) system is vital to the running of the business and crucial to how a hotelier monitors things like sales, bookings and staff performance. Recent advances in technology have helped to revolutionise the hospitality sector, decreasing service times and increasing the efficiency of sales when completing transactions.

The growing trend of a new technology called Near Field Communications (NFC) is hoped to eliminate the necessity for customers to carry money or credit/debit cards to pay their bills. This NFC technology allows consumers to use mobile devices to process all their transactions, for instance by swiping their smartphone across a special kiosk at the counter, with all the information sent to a central processing system for payment.

having an IP telephone in a standard guest room is becoming the norm, rather than the exception

Today, let's focus on the hotel/hospitality market, and their shift away from traditional telephony. As with any new technology, some examples in the "market" are quicker to adopt new technology earlier than others. What drives this interest and migration to new technology? It's usually competition.

As these devices become cheaper, it's only practical for the hospitality industry to move away from traditional telephony. Analog telephony is becoming a liability. Maintaining thousands of feet of cable, supporting two cable plants (voice and data), is becoming a thing of the past.

When we log onto the Internet, we take lots of things for granted. We assume that we'll be able to access whatever Web site we want, whenever we want to go there. We assume that we can use any feature we like -- watching online video, listening to podcasts, searching, e-mailing and instant messaging -- anytime we choose. We assume that we can attach devices like wireless routers, game controllers or extra hard drives to make our online experience better. What makes all these assumptions possible is "Network Neutrality," the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet. Net Neutrality means that Internet service providers may not discriminate between different kinds of content and applications online. It guarantees a level playing field for all Web sites and Internet technologies. But all that could change. The biggest cable and telephone companies would like to charge money for smooth access to Web sites, speed to run applications, and permission to plug in devices. These network giants believe they should be able to charge Web site operators, application providers and device manufacturers for the right to use the network. Those who don't make a deal and pay up will experience discrimination: Their sites won't load as quickly, and their applications and devices won't work as well. Without legal protection, consumers could find that a network operator has blocked the Web site of a competitor, or slowed it down so much that it's unusable. The network owners say they want a "tiered" Internet. If you pay to get in the top tier, your site and your service will run fast. If you don't, you'll be in the slow lane. What's the Problem Here? Discrimination: The Internet was designed as an open medium. The fundamental idea since the Internet's inception has been that every Web site, every feature and every service should be treated without discrimination. That's how bloggers can compete with CNN or USA Today for readers. That's how up-and-coming musicians can build underground audiences before they get their first top-40 single. That's why when you use a search engine, you see a list of the sites that are the closest match to your request -- not those that paid the most to reach you. Discrimination endangers our basic Internet freedoms. Double-dipping: Traditionally, network owners have built a business model by charging consumers for Internet access. Now they want to charge you for access to the network, and then charge you again for the things you do while you're online. They may not charge you directly via pay-per-view Web sites. But they will charge all the service providers you use. These providers will then pass those costs along to you in the form of price hikes or new charges to view content. Stifling innovation: Net Neutrality ensures that innovators can start small and dream big about being the next EBay or Google without facing insurmountable hurdles. Unless we preserve Net Neutrality, startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay for a top spot on the Web. On a tiered Internet controlled by the phone and cable companies, only their own content and services -- or those offered by corporate partners that pony up enough "protection money" -- will enjoy life in the fast lane. The End of the Internet? Make no mistake: The free-flowing Internet as we know it could very well become history. What does that mean? It means we could be headed toward a pay-per-view Internet where Web sites have fees. It means we may have to pay a network tax to run voice-over-the-Internet phones, use an advanced search engine, or chat via Instant Messenger. The next generation of inventions will be shut out of the top-tier service level. Meanwhile, the network owners will rake in even greater profits.

Mobile ubiquity.

To meet escalating guest expectations, 54% of hotels will spend more on technology this year, according to HT’s 2016 Lodging Technology Study. Their biggest priorities for technology spending, in order, are: payment security, guest room tech, bandwidth, and mobile engagement

Mobile solutions in particular will dominate the list of capital investments this year — six of the top new rollouts have a mobile component, ranging from mobile keys, to mobile payments, to location-based technology (see fig. 2 below). Also high on to-do lists are improving data accessibility and security.

Unlike a commercial building where cabling systems have an economic life of 5 to 10 years, the physical plant of a hotel is much more difficult to change in the future.

hotels still require an increasingly sophisticated cable plant.

This network complexity should be addressed sooner rather than later in the building process and pre-opening phase.