Case Study: Motorola, Swisscom Partner for Hotel Guest IP Services

Swisscom, a provider of secure and reliable IP-based networks that support voice, data, Internet and video services, and Motorola, a developer of video and networking technologies, are working together to bring innovative broadband services to hotels. Together, they are offering a full suite of integrated network technology solutions to clients and guests of the hospitality industry improving not only the communications experience for travelers around the world, but simultaneously reducing hotel system incidents with a scalable, reliable solution.

Problem

Business travelers and on-the-go vacationers increasingly demand services that create a seamless and enhanced traveling experience – whether it is IPTV, movie and video downloads, VoIP, wireless access or dual-mode cell phone functionality.

While guests count on reliable connectivity while on the road, hotels are concerned about operation costs associated with updating their infrastructures and the complications that can occur with adding separate broadband modems and power supplies needed to meet the demand onto their systems. Furthermore, with each new IP-based application, the complexity of the existing communications infrastructure grows, resulting in rising maintenance and management cost. While the increasing structural complexity reduces the preventive visibility of potential problem causes.

Solution

Motorola’s mT2a PowerBroadband product line was the solution to the hotel operators’ concerns and was selected because its innovative design provided the performance levels required for next-generation, triple- and quad-play IP services

“Motorola’s mT2a system has proven its value across multiple deployments ranging from hotels and hospitals to residential apartments,” said Greg Ioffe, general manager, Private Broadband Networks, Motorola Home and Networks Mobility business. “It is now being deployed across European and North American hotels for advanced guest services. Together we look forward to bringing innovative broadband services to hotels that will include IPTV, HDTV, downloadable movies, personalized and localized information and targeted advertising.”

The mT2a PowerBroadband system includes a self-contained m2 wall plate, which directly snaps on over existing telephone wall plates found in hotel guestrooms to offer a “no box” solution. There is no local power supply to get unplugged. There is no separate modem to get stolen. Each m2 Wall-plate is powered from the Master Switch over the ordinary telephone line running to the Guest Room to bringing high-speed Internet access and other broadband IP services to hotel guests.

The T2 system delivers upwards of 50 Mbps of bandwidth to each Wallplate in the guest room. The system enables multiple separate and simultaneous broadband applications to be supported in each guest room.

These could be any mix of high-speed Internet access, IPTV and VoD to the television, VoIP, and/or local Wi-Fi access. Each application is secure, completely private and provided with enough bandwidth to fully support each application’s demand. For example, up to 2 MPEG-2 HD video streams can be delivered easily to each guest room with enough bandwidth to spare for Internet access, Wi-Fi access and VoIP calls.

“Swisscom serves the ever-changing needs of leisure and business travelers, providing them and our hotel partners with the most advanced broadband services,” said Leo Brand, CEO of Swisscom’s Hospitality Services. “A cutting-edge network infrastructure is vital for the delivery of both our premium information and entertainment services and our extensive meeting room services. Motorola’s mT2a product forms a critical building block that assists us in our continued efforts to keep our infrastructure up to date and readily scalable and to control the complete service delivery from the server to the hotel guest.”

Results

Swisscom chose the mT2a product line for its ability to maximize the communications experience of hotel guests while considerably minimizing the operation costs. Not only does that snap-on wall plate minimize cost and time for system installation but this simplicity also eliminates up to 10 percent to 15 percent of service disconnects (industry statistics) as there is no local power supply to get unplugged and no separate modem that can be mislaid.

Leading hoteliers strive to continually improve their services, which secures them a sustainable edge over their competitors. For many Swisscom partner hoteliers, the mT2a PowerBroadband system has proven an extremely powerful asset in this respect. In addition to facilitating the installation, use and maintenance of their broadband systems, mT2a has helped hotel managers to further reduce the number of customer complaints and the number of system troubles.

Future

Motorola’s cutting-edge technology solutions are an important building block in Swisscom’s mission to provide the lodging industry with continuous service innovation in a wide area of guest-facing applications. Beyond high-speed Internet access, the new broadband infrastructure enables innovative guest services such as IPTV, movie and video downloads, VoIP, wireless access and dual-mode cell phone functionality.