A large gaming conglomerate was looking to implement a cost-effective and easy to install WLAN that would dependably support hundreds of millions of guests every month. Requirements included a solid and fast Wi-Fi connection, complete with bestin-class practically impenetrable security, locationing and analytics. Only Zebra s WLAN technologies and WLAN equipment made it possible. Engaging Guest Services Gaming, Hospitality and Resorts This real world case study shows the breadth of the Zebra wireless LAN solutions for a large North America based resort, gaming and hospitality ownership group. The Objective The hospitality partner wants to give guests more time to play by freeing up time wasted searching for hotel services, restaurant reservations and other activities. The partner wants to include these guest services in a full scale 802.11 wireless network upgrade. Early in the vendor selection process, three key requirements were identified: Ubiquitous guest 802.11 wireless network with seamless roaming within every property and between all properties. Location based services and analytics tailored to each property zone; from the guest room to the meeting room, back-of-house to front-of-house and poolside. Best-in-class threat vector detection, security forensics, analytics and wireless LAN PCI compliance.
The ChALLenge Social media and mobile devices have forever changed the way guests interact and communicate. Guests regularly visit, post and check their social media sites throughout the day on mobile phones, tablets and other personal devices, requiring a WLAN that can accommodate a massive growth in device capacity without impacting network performance or compromising network security. In a large resort and gaming hotel, over 100 million guest mobile devices log on to the hotel WLAN. In addition to device volume challenges, in this resort, the architecture of the buildings also posed a challenge. Each building is unique, with variable ceiling heights up to 12 m (approximately 40 feet) and different types of construction materials. The location services required 5 m (16.4 ft.) accuracy for the front-of-house, gaming floor, and retail zones. In order to address these challenges, each property would require a custom network design in order to achieve the flexibility performance necessary to support tens of thousands of concurrent mobile device connections. Only a small number of the guest rooms offer CAT5e Ethernet cable the majority of the guest rooms have twisted pair telephone wire and coaxial cable plant for analog television. Due to the capital expense and disruption to the guests, re-cabling all the rooms with CAT5e was not a viable option. This large hotelier needed a different solution. The SOLUTION was selected for the breadth of its WLAN portfolio, which offered all the technology required to deliver dependable superior performance to hundreds of millions of mobile devices and meet the needs of the many different areas inside the property low and high rise. Zebra offered four key competitive differentiators: Highly accurate Location Based Services (Lbs) Zebra s locationing solutions collect RF data from all access points and all packets received by the client. This unique solution exceeds competitive products that collect location data from management packets only, delivering the pinpoint location data that is required. Tiered Threat Detection (WIPs) Zebra s WLAN technology can match the threat vector detection to the appropriate zone and application. Rapid deployment During a Proof of Concept trial, the Zebra solution was installed in one sixth of the time it took to install the competitive WLAN, and was able to accommodate 30 percent more guest devices with twice the throughput. Line power over phone wire A patented technology, line power over phone wire, allows the property to re-use the existing telephone cable already in the walls of most of the rooms. ZebRA TechNOLOgy FOR the LOW-Rise ZONE The low-rise zones of the properties include common areas such as the entry lobby, the gaming floor, restaurants, retail stores, the outdoor pool, meeting rooms and the back-ofhouse service areas. For each zone within the low-rise, accuracy of location based services dictated the AP density and installation site. For example, in the back-of-house zone, a wide zone location is used to identify which staff member can most efficiently provide immediate response to a guest request. For the lobby and gaming floor, the network was designed to provide 5 m (16.4 ft.) accuracy, 50 percent of the time. 2
The wing 5 OPeRATing system Zebra s next-generation WiNG 5 operating system (OS) is at the heart of all Zebra wireless LAN controllers, service appliances and access points. By distributing the same OS throughout the network, intelligent decisions can be made at the edge APs for seamless roaming and application optimization. WiNG Operating System Hierarchical Management Optimized WAN management protocol Consistent guest experience on or between properties NX-95xx NOC Controller for 10,000 APs TS-524 VDSL2 / Line Power Switch... TW-511 WiFi Over Phone Wire 90mm x 125mm GUEST ROOMS......... Internet Router Service Gateway 7532 3 Stream 11ac with Beamform Cat5e Ethernet Cabling WiNG Management VDSL2...... Ethernet Switched Distribution 6532 LOBBY CONFERENCE BACK OF HOUSE... NX-75xx Site Controller OUTDOOR 6562 11n IP67 Rated low rise access POiNTs AP 6562 The AP 6562 is ready for the outdoors with IP67 certification. The AP 6562 offers patented MESH Connex and is easy to install and hide, making it ideal for public-facing outdoor areas, such as the pool and valet. AP 6532 This dual radio 802.11n Access Point is wellproven in many markets. The AP 6532 offers purposely designed band unlocked radios and three receive streams for highly accurate location and threat vector detection. Available with internal or external antennas, the AP 6532 offers maximum flexibility for network design. AP 7532 The AP 7532 features the latest generation in wireless networking standards, 802.11ac. With a three stream transmit and receive antenna system, the 7532 delivers speeds up to 1.3Gbps, delivering the blazing speed and network capacity required to support hundreds of millions of devices. The AP 7532 offers two modes of operation. It can provide data access for guests, plus locationing data and security analytics, or the AP 7532 can be dedicated as full-time, dual band location and security sensor. This provided the flexibility needed to meet location and security requirements: AP 7532 access points in the front -of-house are deployed as dedicated full-time location and security sensors, while the remaining access points provide data as well as sensing for locationing and security. The result is a degree of locationing accuracy that is unmatched by any competitive WLAN. The network of APs and site controllers is tightly coupled through Zebra s WiNG 5 OS, which provides zero-touch provisioning, redundancy and centralized management for every AP, every guest and every connected device. In the network operations center, the Zebra NX 9500 provides company-wide management of the WLAN and wireless services for all locations, while the site-level controller and APs at each property ensure site-survivability, even if the connection to the NX 9500 is lost and consolidate management traffic and firmware updates, reducing the amount of WAN bandwidth required for WLAN management. 3
ZebRA LOcATiON ANd ThreAT VecTOR APPLiANce The Zebra location and threat vector services appliance is based on the AirDefense Services Platform (ADSP). ADSP allows tiered location services and tiered security solutions to match the applications and threat level. Using a 175 signature database, ADSP detects common attack vectors and anomalous behavior to detect zero-day attacks. For location services, ADSP provides a request-response API and a data streaming API. For effective wayfinding applications in the low-rise zones, ADSP streams guest location data to a third party provider. With integration into the loyalty program application, the guest can pull up a map and immediately see their real-time location within the correct property. Guests can simply select a destination such as a restaurant or retail store to receive step-by-step directions, complete with near real-time location updates shown on the property floor plan. Location data can be analyzed on the ADSP console to provide guest flow analytics. This application is particularly suited to large resort properties that need to understand how a guest enters, exits or dwells in a particular region of the property in order to maximize visibility for hotel kiosks and signage and help increase revenue by promoting events, services and more. Finally, the request-response API makes it easy to locate a specific device; for example, to query the location of a staff member or to provide a guest with requested assistance. High Rise access POiNTs As we mentioned, the majority of the guest rooms only have coaxial cable and twisted pair standard telephone wire and the cost and disruptions to guests for re-cabling made this avenue prohibitive. In-room access points provide dependable, robust WLAN connectivity regardless of how many devices may be in use in the room at any time. The AP 6511 leverages existing CAT5e wiring, while the TW-511 can utilize the existing telephony wiring in the walls of the guest rooms to deliver high-speed bandwidth. AP 6511 This AP is the same size as a standard North America style wallplate (70 mm x 115 mm). In addition to the 802.11n radio, this innovative product supports up to 300 Mbps wireless data rate and features a four-port Ethernet switch with Layer 2 and Layer 3 services. The AP 6511 is designed to be installed in minutes, replacing the existing CAT5e wallplate. TW-511 Part of the T5 PowerBroadband family, the TW-511 is designed for installation over an existing telecom wallplate with an RJ11 jack. In addition to the integrated 802.11n radio, the TW-511 includes two Layer 2 fast Ethernet ports used to provide minibar connectivity, IPTV or guest wired access. The TW-511 has three distinctive features designed purposely for hotels: Line power over phone wire. Within the hospitality industry, it is very common for a guest to unplug power cords while looking for an available AC power socket. By providing the operating power over the same wire pair used for analog telephone service, the TW-511 completely removes this possibility, making network access even simpler for guests. Rapid deployment and tamper-proof. There is no disruption to guests during TW-511 installation the TW-511 can be installed in less time than it takes housekeeping to clean a room, and all without any special tools dramatically reducing deployment costs. Managed RF and dedicated bandwidth. The TW-511 in the guest room connects to a TS-524 VDSL2 switch in the main phone room of the hotel. The TS-524 VDSL2 switch provides the managed line power, dedicated bandwidth between 50 Mbps and 65 Mbps, along with automatic RF and network management of the in-room TW-511. The result is a highly cost-effective, high-speed, self monitoring and self tuning in-room network, complete with automatic fault detection and recovery. 4
ResuLTs Within months of completing the installation at signature properties, this hotel is seeing a dramatic increase in network usage. Guest room network usage is up 300 percent from the previously deployed network, and the upsell for premium services hit 10 percent in the second month of introduction. And with granular and highly accurate location information, the hotel can now analyze guest flow patterns to improve visibility, awareness and sales signature attractions, restaurants and special hotel activities. Part number: CS-WLANGENGAMING 06/15. 2015 ZIH Corp. ZEBRA, the Zebra head graphic and logo are trademarks of ZIH Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.