Colleagues from the PR department have been collecting cases for several years that use our enterprise-class equipment. A significant part of them are projects in the field of hospitality. This is due to the fact that this area is one of the key components of the TP-Link project direction, as well as the fact that such cases often turn out to be the most interesting from the professional side.
About the typical requirements of hotels
In fact, most hotels want to solve the same problems:
- Provide Wi-Fi in the rooms and on the street and thus guarantee a positive user experience.
- Provide client authentication (and reduce network load by blocking unauthorized clients).
- Organize the display of advertising and promotional content, plus the initial collection of data for analyzing preferences.
- Provide simple centralized management and cost-effective network maintenance.
The topology of such a network on TP-Link equipment may look like this:
The choice of models may vary depending on the budget and goals, but the general principle remains the same. At the time we prepared , allowing you to easily navigate the TP-Link nomenclature for such projects.
Studying the reviews of European resort hotels, you can see that they rarely have high-quality Internet. In Russia, the picture is generally better, although not everywhere. At the same time, we have one of the lowest on the Internet in the world.
For this post, we took out of the archive and commented on a couple of typical cases from which the routine of the project department is formed both in Russia and abroad. There will not be very many technical details here, since we have disclosed the issues of networking schemes and applied technologies in from previous articles. And this time, let's be brief.
Example #1 - Hardware Controller Solution
Hotel complexes Izmailovo in Moscow, hotels Gamma and Delta (3 and 4 stars).
2 double rooms, 000 access points.
This is one of the unique hotel complexes in Moscow, built for the 80 Summer Olympics and one of the five largest hotels in the world.
Currently, the Gamma and Delta hotels, located in the same building, are undergoing floor-by-floor renovations, as the network infrastructure is being upgraded, including the installation of new Wi-Fi access points.
In order to find the best places for the location of access points, we conducted a radio survey of one of the floors of the hotels. Then the customer tested solutions from different vendors in the lobby. As a result, the hotel administration opted for our equipment.
At the stage of radio planning, we considered two options: with the location of access points in the corridors (1) and inside the rooms (2).
Based on the results of the survey, together with the customer, we chose the option with the location of points in the rooms. In this case, reliable Wi-Fi reception was maintained in the 2,4 and 5 GHz bands with a signal not lower than -65 dBm, as indicated in the customer's requirements, and the number of access points per floor was significantly reduced.
After installing the points, we conducted an additional survey to make sure that everything was set up correctly, the requirements for coverage and network speed were met, and the necessary customer services were working properly. When implementing such projects, we, as a vendor, provide customers with full pre-sale and subsequent support, as well as give recommendations on setting up.
Switch T2600G-28MPS
Switches were responsible for the operation of access points in this project and two controllers , capable of managing 500 points each.
Example #2 - Software Controller Solution
Al Hayat Hotel Apartments in the United Arab Emirates.
4 stars, 85 rooms, 10 suites
The hotel has the infrastructure for business meetings, family vacations and international tourism. When modifying the network, the administration decided to rely on high-performance solutions focused on supporting mass viewing of HD video (we all understand that even cable TV is being replaced by services like Netflix).
The atmosphere is closer to home. The Internet should also be "like at home"
The main difficulty was the impossibility of installing separate access points in each room - the management required them to be placed in the corridors. Another issue was the WiFi coverage in the two bedroom suites. As a result, the hotel administration formulated the following list of requirements for us:
- By coverage: the availability of a signal anywhere in each room, the absence of "dead zones", especially in suites with two bedrooms.
- By bandwidth: 1500 simultaneously connected devices.
- By centralized management: a simple and efficient management interface that would allow administrators to easily monitor and manage a Wi-Fi network without requiring additional training for specialists.
- Aesthetic design: All visible network devices should be in harmony with the existing interior of the hotel.
- Performance-wise: support large data transfer for massive HD video viewing.
Based on our radio survey and our thermal map of the hotel coverage, we calculated that in this case, fast and seamless coverage can be achieved using 36 ceiling access points. . Combine access points with two switches ), each capable of connecting and powering up to 24 EAPs.
The points are powered by a network cable (Power over Ethernet), which reduces the cost of laying power cables and, again, allows you to take care of the interior. The presence of two access ranges made it possible to separate "heavy" HD clients and undemanding user devices.
Managed through our free . Thanks to him, the staff got the opportunity to centrally manage settings (for example, set the maximum priority for the traffic of the service for accepting electronic orders and invoicing, while previously the network load could hang these processes) and monitor the network.
Main functions of EAP Controller (Omada Controller):
- Monitor and manage multiple EAPs across multiple sites
- Configure and automatically sync Wi-Fi settings for all access points
- Customizable guest authentication through the authentication portal
- Rate limiting and load balancing per client
- Access Control for Network Threat Protection
Π‘onclusion
These case studies cover several typical situations that hotels face when upgrading networks. And all of them are solved with the help of our standard lines, which we design, including with an eye on the hotel business. For example, they can implement user authorization through the guest portal, they allow you to regulate the bandwidth of specific devices and create policies for its distribution. Most of them are easily controlled using the software package. (Omada Controller), which does not require additional training for specialists and is intuitive.
Another moment. Hotels always strive to provide customers with such a service that would guarantee them the most relaxing stay possible. At the same time, accessing the Internet through a public network must be both simple and comply with the requirements of current legislation - therefore, EAP and CAP access points allow customers to pass SMS authorization using services such as Wi-Fi Now and Twilio, as well as authorization through the social network Facebook (suitable for countries where identity authentication is not required on public networks). This does not require the installation of any add-ons - all the functionality is already wired in the web interface of both controllers.
Source: habr.com