�鶹������ý

Contemporary downtown Madison Hotel gains a modern network technology, the owners North Central Group achieve a green network and hotel guests enjoy fast-reliable network connectivity.

Staying true to your core values is important for all. When North Central Group (NCG) set out to build their contemporary metro Madison hotel, they wanted the hotel construction and ongoing hotel operations to reflect their corporate values. When it came time to choose the hotel Local Area Network (LAN) infrastructure, North Central Group held up the same expectations.

�鶹������ý Optical LAN (OLAN), a fiber-based IT infrastructure based on Gigabit Passive Optical Network (G-PON) and Ethernet technologies, along with Vision Technologies, a professional IT integration services company, were the ideal choice for a network infrastructure that personified the key core values of the major international hotel brand, North Central Group and their hotel guests:

• Modern Network Technology for Contemporary Metro Hotel
• Green Sustainable Network for NCG North Central Group
• Fast and Reliable Network for the Hotel Guests

This contemporary metro hotel intends to provide a distinctly modern design brand style. It is easy to be modern on opening day, but how do you maintain a modern hotel over time? You do that by building in the flexibility to constantly evolve your hotel year over year. Therefore, Vision Technologies recommended the �鶹������ý Optical LAN, with Single Mode Fiber (SMF) cabling infrastructure, because of its support of a graceful migration for new technologies. Fiber cabling has no known bandwidth limitations and currently has tested capacities measured in terabytes. The Optical LAN systems have tremendous scalability. The �鶹������ý 1134AC Optical Line Terminal (OLT), installed in the hotel’s main data center, can support over 2,000 gigabit Ethernet connections from a single 7-inch (4RU) shelf – that equates to serving 10 gigabit Ethernet connections for every room of a 200-room hotel. Best of all, today’s G-PON technology has already defined a next-generation path for 10GbE, 40GbE and beyond 100GbE capacity support without any conflicts with the current generation electronics, passive optical splitters or SMF cabling.

“We wanted to future-proof the building so that we were able to take advantage of the speed and capacity that fiber cabling offers,” said Doug Kinney, Director of Technology at North Central Group, “Optical LAN offers the best opportunity to integrate and evolve in advance of future technology.”

Green Sustainable Network
North Central Group prides itself on being at the forefront of green technologies, having committed early to white roofs, energy management systems and low-flow water fixtures. NCG has implemented numerous green initiatives across their portfolio of hotels. With Vision Technologies’ guidance, �鶹������ý Optical LAN presented NCG with another opportunity to lead the hospitality industry with sustainable IT infrastructure. Compared to copper cabling, fiber cabling is smaller and lighter, yet stronger. Fiber cabling’s smaller sizes mean it introduces 60% less plastics and PVCs than copper cabling into a building. Additionally, with Vision Technologies’ Optical LAN design there is less mid-span electronics and fewer cables. In a traditional copper-based LAN architecture there would be managed full-functioning Ethernet switches stacked in the telecommunications closets, but OLAN replaces those with passive optical splitters that require no management, no power and are highly reliable.

Furthermore, legacy LAN design has as many as four (4) 300 feet of copper cables supporting every guest room, while with an OLAN design only one (1) fiber cable is needed – that means thousands of feet of cabling, plastics, PVC and associated fiber management have been eliminated from the Madison hotel.

“NCG is always active in green initiatives and we liked the idea of using less resources such as copper and plastics,” said Kinney, “the passive Optical LAN architecture dramatically reduced the amount of cable needed for this hotel.”

Fast and Reliable Network
At the Madison hotel, the tech-savvy hotel guests want access to a fast and reliable network, whether they are utilizing their wireless device or connected device. By using the latest next-generation network technology, NCG can expose their hotel guests to an online experience even better than they have at home or the office. By leveraging the Optical LAN’s greater gigabit Ethernet density (in a smaller and greener footprint), and with fiber cabling’s greater bandwidth capacity, the Vision Technologies network design assures a superior online guest experience across the Wi-Fi, telephone, entertainment video or other hotel digital resources. As for network reliability, the OLAN electronics and fiber-based infrastructure have been transporting emergency and critical care communications for decades, with measured network up-time reliability at 99.999% (5 minutes annual network down time). Traditional best-effort copper-based Ethernet switch architecture network up-time reliability measured at 99.9% (over 5-hours network down time).

“We take great pride in delivering an exceptional experience to our guests,” said Kinney, “The downtown Madison hotel is built from the ground up to assure our guests a sophisticated, yet less complicated, hotel experience.”

Modern, Green, Fast, Reliable and Passive Optical LAN Saves Money

What is great about this modern, simple, green, fast and reliable network design is that it saves money on day-1 capital and year-over-year operation costs. Relative to the 165-room Madison hotel’s initial design, equipment, material, installation, provisioning, test and training costs, the Vision Technologies and �鶹������ý Optical LAN saved over $100,000 compared to traditional copper-based LAN design.

“When we saw the cost savings that Optical LAN offered we were very impressed,” said Kinney, “It was a no-brainer to move forward with this simple and scalable network design that saved us money.”

The major international brand of the metro downtown hotel calls for a modern network technology. North Central Group desires a green sustainable network. The hotel guest wants fast and reliable network. �鶹������ý and Vision Technologies delivered on all three of those core values with an Optical LAN architecture that is simple, secure, scalable and stable access that optimizes the hotel guest experience, hotel owner business initiatives and brand vision.

About �鶹������ý

�鶹������ý is leading the future of hospitality networking with access solutions for today, poised to deliver modern high-performance solutions for the future. Fast, reliable and secure connectivity has never been in more demand for hotel and resort connectivity. �鶹������ý’ sole focus is to deliver simple, secure, scalable, and stable, that optimizes the hotel guest experience.

About this metro Madison hotel

This downtown contemporary hotel is located at the urban epicenter just one block from the Madison Capitol Square in Wisconsin. The guests experience a design-led hotel that effortlessly blends its European soul with a Midwestern mindset for those who prefer a sophisticated, yet less complicated, lifestyle. The metro hotel adds its harmonious point-of-view to Madison’s landscape.

About Vision Technologies

Vision Technologies is a professional IT services company that provides a suite of solutions for commercial and hospitality markets. Our service offerings range from on-site IT support to IP Convergence Technologies in Security and AV, to the design and installation of low-voltage voice and data cabling systems. Vision’s quality is based on providing a level of excellence, unparalleled professional service and craftsmanship driven by our culture and our people.