DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, 3rd April, 2014:
In its on-going effort to maintain its position as an iconic 5 star
hotel, offering the best service and experience to its guests, Dusit
Thani Dubai has leveraged Aruba Networks' mobility
controllers and wireless access points to provide secure
high-performance wireless internet access across the hotel’s 321 rooms
and suites, business centre meeting rooms and executive boardroom, and
its 600-person capacity ballroom. The solution has helped the hotel meet
the technological and financial challenges of providing its guests with
complimentary high speed wireless internet access. Dusit Thani touts
flexibility, affordability and security as the key features of the
solution which also meets stringent Payment Card Industry (PCI)
standards.
Bertram
Shajiev, IT Manager at Dusit Thani who was in charge of the technology
decision process said, “We realised that our network had to be both
complimentary and wireless, so we knew we needed a solid platform.”
Guided by Precedence Technologies, a UAE based IT services company,
Shajiev was encouraged to visit sites that had deployed Aruba's network
technologies. “Their solutions were extremely convincing and also very
appealing from the financial perspective. The fact that Aruba does the
wireless side for Lucent helped persuade us too,” he said.
Precedence
Technologies Director, Tanveer Mohamed said, "We suggested Aruba for a
number of reasons, most notably our experience with the company and
their solution's ability to identify and fingerprint devices and apply
the appropriate quality of service for each type of device. With Aruba,
the customer is happy so there are fewer support calls for us. Plus it
is easy to add important applications such as Aruba ClearPass for guest
access and Aruba Airwave for management."
The
project involved the installation of Aruba 3600 and 3400 mobility
controllers, AP-93 access points in the hotel rooms and AP-105 access
points in areas with higher user density such as banquet halls and
public areas. While Precedence Technologies managed to smoothly deploy
the wireless network and integrate it with the newly laid out wired LAN
infrastructure, unexpected interference arose due to the proximity of a
3G mobile phone antenna working close to the 2.4GHz WiFi frequency band.
This problem was quickly resolved by leveraging Aruba's adaptive
wireless technology. Tanveer Mohamed said, "The AP-105s are dual-band so
we were able to configure them to push most users to the 5GHz band."
The
involvement of Aruba's highly skilled local partner was a key factor in
the smooth implementation of the project. Shajiev said, "They were very
competent and had a really good focus on developing the network.”
Precedence Technologies' specialist knowledge also proved helpful during
network commissioning.
Since
its deployment and optimization, the Aruba solution has not only
performed beyond expectations but has also greatly simplified network
management. The vendor extended support in the form of trainings on
wireless networks to Dusit Thani's in-house IT team, thus enabling them
to easily carry out daily administration and maintenance. "Soon after
project completion, I observed the output from our tests, and I informed
our corporate headquarters to make Aruba technology standard across our
properties and install it in any new hotels we build, because it solves
a lot of problems,” said Shajiev.
With
the use of mobile devices in the region still sky-rocketing, Dusit
Thani Dubai intends to upgrade the Aruba network by adding a third
controller for extra reliability. Software upgrades to the existing
controllers will translate to cost savings while ensuring that the
solution meets future demands. Shajiev and his IT team also plan to
deploy 20 more wireless access points to increase coverage and intend to
implement Aruba's AirWave solution to simplify administration,
monitoring and troubleshooting.
Zeeshan
Hadi, Territory Manager, Dubai at Aruba Networks said, “We have
delivered a solution that not only meets the hotel's current
requirements, but can also be scaled an upgraded in a straightforward
and cost-effective manner. This will enable Dusit Thani to utilize the
solution to the maximum of its potential for years to come. Such a
platform enables them to offer high-performance reliable wireless
connectivity to guests as a complimentary service.”
"I
am very happy with our Aruba network, and readily recommend it to
others because it really does make our life easier. Our goal is that
Dusit properties are the hotels of choice for Dubai visitors and the
Aruba network is an important factor in achieving that goal," concludes
Shajiev.
