Boutique Hotel Provides Free High-Speed Internet with Zhone FiberLAN Solution

OAKLAND, CA — When The Gentian Group began designing The Durham Hotel in Durham, North Carolina, it set out to create a dynamic destination for locals and travelers alike. To achieve that, The Gentian Group decided to implement Zhone Technologies' FiberLAN solution in order to provide complimentary Wi-Fi services to its guests, an option that many hoteliers charge for. In a case study titled "The Durham Hotel Implements Free High-Speed Internet For Guests with Zhone Technologies' FiberLAN Solution," Craig Spitzer, general manager at The Durham Hotel articulates how FiberLAN provides a space-saving and robust network for its bandwidth-heavy needs. With the space it saved from eliminating technology closets, The Durham Hotel was able to add a housekeeping supply closet on each floor, resulting in faster fulfillment of guest requests. In addition, the expansive bandwidth and stability of the network supports voice, video, WiFi and a security system ! for the hotel's conference halls and 53 guest rooms.

The Durham Hotel was built within a gutted, mid-century former bank building in the city of Durham. When evaluating the hotel's needs, the management team knew it needed a solution that would adapt to the limited amount of space available to house the hotel's network infrastructure. It also required a network that worked with its property management and security systems.

"When planning for the hotel, my goal was to maximize my technology offerings while limiting the amount of equipment a high-speed rollout would require," said Spitzer. "Traditional hospitality technology implementations require a closet on every floor to house switches, cables and other large hardware. With Zhone's FiberLAN solution, I have less equipment to hide, which means we were able to put a linen or supply closet on every floor which reduces service response times to our guests."

Throughput of 100 Megabits to Each Guest Room
Hosted America, a North Carolina-based cloud services integrator, recommended Zhone's FiberLAN solution, a next-generation Optical LAN solution, because it has the ability to deliver high-speed data, voice and video to multi-level, multi-unit facilities. Zhone Technologies and Hosted America collaborated to create a network that allows a throughput of 100 megabits to each guest room and is built on an aggregation platform that can be expanded as the hotel grows. The case study outlines the following aspects of the deployment:

• Using Zhone Technologies' access and aggregation platform equipment, Hosted America designed a high-speed, large-scale network that delivers triple-play services to each guest room.


• Integrating VoIP with The Durham Hotel's property management platform provides an "all-in" technology platform that supports voice, video, Internet, Wi-Fi, security and audiovisual.


• DISH Network's smartbox hospitality solution provides guests with high-speed live satellite television programming. The system provided significant space savings within each room and throughout the hotel in comparison to traditional cable platforms. The smartbox can output up to 96 HD channels from a single compact box instead of having a residential set-top box for each HD channel in the hotel.

"With Zhone's solution coupled with DISH's smartbox satellite TV option, I'm essentially future-proofing the infrastructure and LAN environment while maximizing the technology within the hotel," said Spitzer.