Jurys Doyle Speeds Up Virtual Room Service
The Jurys Doyle Hotel group is now offering wired broadband Internet access for guests at a number of its business hotels, installed and managed by networking firms Interfusions Networks.
The service is primarily aimed at business travellers who want fast, low-cost Internet access to check e-mail, log on to their corporate network, and browse the Web.
So far the service has been installed in two Jurys Doyle Group hotels in Ireland. The Custom House in the first hostel in Ireland to deploy wired broadband with 100 rooms offering the service and Jurys Inn, Newcastle, has deployed broadband access in all of its 274 rooms. The service provides speeds up to 512kbits/s.
The VPN-based technology is also currently being installed in the Burlington Hotel in Dublin and in Jurys Inn, Glasgow. A further three hotels currently being in the UK and Ireland-in Leeds, Chelsea and Parnell St, Dublin-which are due to open in the first quarter of 2004, will all offer broadband internet access in all guest rooms.
Despite the publicity generated by the building of wireless wi-fi ‘hotspots’ in public house like hotels, only a small number of business travellers would have
‘Wi-Fi - ready notebooks that could hook up to wireless access points, says Martin Barron, the group’s IT director. It is estimated that only 25 per cent of notebooks made in 2002 were Wi-Fi enabled, whereas virtual all come with Ethernet card. Feedback from hostels in the UK and US suggests that the take up by business travellers of the broadband service starts at about 3-5 per cent but rises quickly into double digits, says Barron, ‘We feel its a requirement now in the same way as you would expect a telephone, TV, air conditioning, and so on.’
The service is primarily aimed at business travellers who want fast, low-cost Internet access to check e-mail, log on to their corporate network, and browse the Web.
So far the service has been installed in two Jurys Doyle Group hotels in Ireland. The Custom House in the first hostel in Ireland to deploy wired broadband with 100 rooms offering the service and Jurys Inn, Newcastle, has deployed broadband access in all of its 274 rooms. The service provides speeds up to 512kbits/s.
The VPN-based technology is also currently being installed in the Burlington Hotel in Dublin and in Jurys Inn, Glasgow. A further three hotels currently being in the UK and Ireland-in Leeds, Chelsea and Parnell St, Dublin-which are due to open in the first quarter of 2004, will all offer broadband internet access in all guest rooms.
Despite the publicity generated by the building of wireless wi-fi ‘hotspots’ in public house like hotels, only a small number of business travellers would have
‘Wi-Fi - ready notebooks that could hook up to wireless access points, says Martin Barron, the group’s IT director. It is estimated that only 25 per cent of notebooks made in 2002 were Wi-Fi enabled, whereas virtual all come with Ethernet card. Feedback from hostels in the UK and US suggests that the take up by business travellers of the broadband service starts at about 3-5 per cent but rises quickly into double digits, says Barron, ‘We feel its a requirement now in the same way as you would expect a telephone, TV, air conditioning, and so on.’
he added that bandwidth would be increased if demand is high enough. Guests in Ireland will be charged either for a one-hour connection at €10 or a 24 hour connection at €20. Although the broadband service is always on, the Barron said that charges based on how much data was downloaded would have been too complicated for guests’ liking. In any case, it is not expected that the service would be used much for applications other than e-mail, logging onto corporate networks or Internet browsing.
The company also provides wireless connectivity at its hotels, but only in the public spaces of the buildings, such as the bar and the lounge areas and some conference rooms. To provide wireless connectivity to guests’ rooms would be expensive, as you would need a lot of base stations to cover all the rooms, said Barron.
One advantage over wireless systems, he added, is that users do not need to go through a proxy server into your browser or change settings on their notebook or PDA in order to connect to the Internet.
‘As businesses begin to realise the cost savings and flexibility to be gained from VPN-based solutions, the demand for high-speed internet access for employees on the move increases,’ said Steve MacNicholas, business development director, Interfusion Networks. ‘By deploying high quality, high performance Internet access into guest rooms and conference rooms we can help Jurys Doyle Hotels attract the lucrative business traveller. The Jurys Doyle service uses Cisco Systems’ Broadband Building Service Management platform.
The company also provides wireless connectivity at its hotels, but only in the public spaces of the buildings, such as the bar and the lounge areas and some conference rooms. To provide wireless connectivity to guests’ rooms would be expensive, as you would need a lot of base stations to cover all the rooms, said Barron.
One advantage over wireless systems, he added, is that users do not need to go through a proxy server into your browser or change settings on their notebook or PDA in order to connect to the Internet.
‘As businesses begin to realise the cost savings and flexibility to be gained from VPN-based solutions, the demand for high-speed internet access for employees on the move increases,’ said Steve MacNicholas, business development director, Interfusion Networks. ‘By deploying high quality, high performance Internet access into guest rooms and conference rooms we can help Jurys Doyle Hotels attract the lucrative business traveller. The Jurys Doyle service uses Cisco Systems’ Broadband Building Service Management platform.
The system is non-intrusive and uses port identification technology so guests cannot see each other’s computer when logging on to the Internet from a hotel room. In addition. Where the wiring in a hotel does not meet the Ethernet standards, Interfusion Networks uses Cisco Systems’ Long Reach Ethernet (I.R.E), enabling broadband to be deployed in older hotels over standard telephone wires.
Interfusion Networks already fully manages the day-to-day operation of the Jurys Doyle Hotel network across 30 sites in Ireland, the UK and the US, serving approximately 4,000 employees. In addition to planning and deploying high-speed broadband connectivity for guests of Jurys Doyle Hotels, this latest project also entails the management of a separate broadband network for the hotel group from Interfusion’s Network Operations Centre.
Interfusion Networks already fully manages the day-to-day operation of the Jurys Doyle Hotel network across 30 sites in Ireland, the UK and the US, serving approximately 4,000 employees. In addition to planning and deploying high-speed broadband connectivity for guests of Jurys Doyle Hotels, this latest project also entails the management of a separate broadband network for the hotel group from Interfusion’s Network Operations Centre.
