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Industry News - July 5th 2014

 

RETAIL AND TECHNOLOGY NEWS

PowerCloud Systems Brings the Power of the Cloud to High-Density Wi-Fi Deployments

PowerCloud® Systems has unveiled a high-density Wi-Fi solution leveraging its CloudCommand™ Enterprise Virtual Management Center (VMC). Particularly well suited for the hospitality industry where serving large numbers of mobile users is required, the cloud-based platform combined with its high-capacity Access Points (APs) deliver high-density deployments with the industry's lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).  

High-density wireless networks are characterized by many users in a limited space accessing the same Wi-Fi network simultaneously. This means there is a proliferation of personal mobile devices demanding high data transfer rates across a large number of concurrent connections. The industry's current coverage-oriented model of providing wireless services in these environments leads to expensive access points with complex installations and high TCO.

The PowerCloud solution offers a new approach to these implementations with dual-band APs that are more cost effective, scalable, and manageable.
Through a combination of the PowerCloud CloudCommand Enterprise VMC and portfolio of APs, hospitality organizations can implement cost-effective cloud-based solutions that can be deployed quickly. PowerCloud specializes in delivering enterprise-class Wi-Fi using the cloud to deliver intelligence, security and control to a network of APs without the need for an expensive, on-site controller. The company's portfolio of high-performance APs provides solutions for both indoor and outdoor applications.

The PowerCloud product offering and business model are ideal for channel partners that are looking to provide Wi-Fi-as-a-service in the hospitality space. The solution meets the high-capacity connectivity needs of today's mobile guests, while serving as a platform for partners to add cloud-based CRM and business intelligence services. In addition, PowerCloud's management system includes MSPview™, a multi-network dashboard specifically designed for channel partners that enables them to manage multiple customer networks from a single portal. The PowerCloud business model also enables the delivery of tiered service options with varying degrees of functionality.

UIEvolution Campaign Manager Brings Digital Signage to Guest Devices

UIEvolution’s Campaign Manager is a new interactive platform that connects digital signage, in-room TVs and guest mobile technology. Engineered by UIEvolution, a company with a proven track record creating rich, cross-platform native experiences across connected devices, Campaign Manager enables a richer guest experience by providing them with increased options and versatility.
 
Prudent hoteliers have wizened to the fact that it’s an increasingly technologically mobile world, understanding that guests’ personal mobile devices must be leveraged to make their guests’ stays more enjoyable. Campaign Manager enables guests to enjoy the personalized mobile entertainment environment that they have grown accustomed to at home while they’re at your hotel.
 
After putting in months of uninterrupted labor, imagine finally arriving in Maui for a work-free week of bliss and relaxation. You’ve finally made it to the resort you spent months researching. While checking in, you notice digital signage containing a world of information you know would make your vacation that much more memorable.
 
Today, guests are constantly on the move. They don’t have the time or patience to stand and engage with big, stationary, static screens, especially while on vacation or during a business trip. Campaign Manager allows digital signage to become portable. It becomes an interactive and engaging advertisement of convenience for the guest, who will undoubtedly open up his or her wallet at some of the suggestions it conveys. The platform allows guests to take signage content and special offers with them, enabling them to make dinner reservations or book a spa treatment from their own mobile device. This ability provides independence and convenience for the guest. 
 
Decades ago, hotels generated revenue from guest phone calls and purchases of in-room movies.  Today, guests carry their own content on tablets, smartphones and laptops—and when they have downtime, they want to pick up where they left off on a series on, say, Netflix.
 
Using HTML5, the platform allows hotels to quickly and easily change on-site signage via a process akin to updating a blog. If there’s a steakhouse at your hotel that’s crowded with a two hour wait time, you can quickly change both digital signage and in-room TV messaging to announce a happy hour at the less busy Mexican restaurant at the other end of the hotel. That way, you don’t lose business to potential restaurant-goers who begin thinking about leaving the hotel grounds to satiate their appetites instead of waiting for a spot at the steakhouse to become available. If you’re a restaurateur in Seattle, for example, who frequently serves visitors from Japan who don’t speak English, Campaign Manager enables a menu to be quickly and automatically translated into their native language so they can better understand what to order. 
 
Campaign Manager enables a more efficiently run business that generates more revenue and leaves customers increasingly satisfied.



iTesso's Mobile Self-Service Solution Puts Hotel Services in Guests' Hands

iTesso has unveiled a self-service mobile solution that enables guests to select their own guestroom, as well as providing a host of other convenient benefits to both the guest and hotelier. The i4Guests solution integrates with the hotel PMS to display a real-time floorplan showing all available rooms-those that are vacant and clean-of the type reserved. Guests can also view vacancies within other room types, with offers to upgrade for a designated fee. This allows hotels to upsell the guest, creating opportunity for additional revenue. When completing the check-in process on a mobile device, including a secure payment transaction, the guest receives a personalized QR code for expedited keycard pickup at a lobby kiosk.
 
Designed to enhance guest satisfaction while reducing hotel operating costs, i4Guests can be accessed via any mobile Internet browser or from dedicated onsite kiosks. Along with the ultra-marketable guestroom-selection functionality, i4Guests allows guests to update registration details and profile information, and it even handles payment transactions with its built-in PCI-certified credit card processing capability. The i4Guests solution, which is hosted on the cloud-native iTesso platform, can be integrated with any hotel property management system.


PhoneSuite Unveils Multi-Brand Legacy Link to Voiceware Hotel Phone System

PhoneSuite introduced an innovative legacy link for a large installed base to its popular Voiceware hotel phone system.
 
Voiceware is a full-featured, affordable IP PBX that fits any configuration and any size or type of hotel. It offers the best of today's and tomorrow's phone system technology, with powerful, modern administrative features and a new and more efficient approach to front desk communications. Best of all, Voiceware runs anywhere (on-property or “in the cloud”), runs anything (analog or SIP) and provides a better experience for guests, including speaking to them in their native language.
 
The legacy link allows Voiceware to drive the analog phones on certain existing hotel platforms (PhoneSuite 112e, MitelSX-200 ICP, MitelSX-200 ML/EL, and others in the coming months). With a required PRI port and configuration software on the legacy system, all Voiceware guest room features are then available on the attached analog phones, without having to replace equipment. All other Voiceware features and advantages are also available as Voiceware becomes the central voice communications controller for the property.
  
Designed specifically for hotel use, Voiceware offers more functionality and an interface that’s easier to use than traditional hotel front desk consoles. A familiar search box option allows personnel to find guests or staff quickly by name and then call or transfer with just one click. Plus, a convenient screen with guest information pops up any time a guest calls.
 
Voiceware also takes a guest-centric approach to system architecture. Rather than simply annotate an extension with the guest’s name, wake-up settings, and outbound calling permissions, the system creates a separate guest record so name(s), VIP status, group affiliation, preferred language, wake-up calls, voice mail box, and outbound dialing permissions are attached to the guest, not the phone. This greatly simplifies the task of moving a guest to a new room, as all these settings stay with the guest – not the phone.


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