HTNG Fiber Optic Effort to Help Hotel Network Designers Meet Bandwidth Needs

A new working group of the nonprofit industry association Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG) will assist hoteliers and technology providers in understanding when and how to use fiber to meet the challenges of skyrocketing guest bandwidth demands.

 

With an abundance of emerging technologies, new applications, and bandwidth demand doubling every year, hotels are challenged to design and implement an infrastructure to meet the needs of guests, staff and visitors. There is a growing concern that traditional network designs will be insufficient or too costly. For many hotels, deploying fiber to the room has become a viable option.

 

The output from the new group will include educational resources and tools for hoteliers, network consultants and integrators, which can help them to evaluate fiber options versus traditional copper cabling in both new-build and retrofit projects. Planned resources will include best practice documents, design guides, a bandwidth calculator tool and webinars. Many of these items will be available for general use, while some will require HTNG membership.

 

Hotel companies that declared their intention to support this effort include Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, Firmdale Hotels, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, InterContinental Hotels Group, Mandarin Oriental Hotels Group, Marcus Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, Maybourne Hotel Group, Omni Hotels, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and White Lodging.

 

In addition to these hoteliers, many product and service providers also plan to share their expertise in creating these resources, including AT&T, Cisco Systems, Corning MobileAccess, DCI Design Communications Inc., Engineering Plus, Enseo, Guest-Tek, Life|ware, Lufthansa Systems, Media Communications, Network Technologies, Inc., Quadriga, Ruckus Wireless, SOLiD Technologies, Swisscom, The Conceptual Group, Windstream Hospitality and Zhone Technologies.