First Successful Pilot of Video on Demand (VoD) and High-Speed Internet Access over Smart 802.11n Wi-Fi Redefines IP Service Delivery within Hotels

Ruckus Wireless, Superclick and SuiteLinq Move Hospitality Market Forward, Leveraging New Wi-Fi Advances to Support Concurrent Voice, Video and Data over Smarter 802.11n

HITEC CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION, Anaheim, CA, June 22, 2009 –Ruckus Wireless™, SuperClick™ (OTC:SPCK) and SuiteLinq™, Inc., today announced the successful completion of the first hospitality pilot to enable the concurrent transmission of IP-based high-definition (HD) video on demand (VoD) and high-speed Internet access services (HSIA) over next generation 802.11n Smart Wi-Fi technology.

The proof of concept was conducted at the Palomar Hotel in Atlanta, one of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurant’s newest properties. The testing used the new Ruckus ZoneFlex™ 7962, a dual band 802.11n Wi-Fi access point with dynamic beamforming and five MediaFlex™ 7111 802.11n (5GHz) Wi-Fi receivers.

The Ruckus ZoneFlex 7962 was used to transmit three HD (MPEG-2) IP-based VoD streams, each at a data rate of 20 Mbps and two standard definition IP-based VoD streams to five different guest rooms while providing high-speed Internet access to four different laptops. The testing was conducted using SuiteLinq’s pay per view VOD system.

The successful testing paves the way for hotels everywhere that haven’t cabled or aren’t cabling for an IP infrastructure to quickly and easily create a modular environment that allows IP services, such as inter-staff voice communications, digital signage, wireless point of sale service or emerging IP-based video to be made available anywhere on property without the cost and inconveniences of cabling.

“Eliminating wires from guest rooms is something nearly every hotel is interested in,” said Selina Lo, president and CEO of Ruckus Wireless. “Historically, Wi-Fi technology just hasn’t been robust enough to support this model, but this has all changed. Our successful testing demonstrates how recent advances in Wi-Fi can be used for more efficient models that deliver innovative new IP-based guest services at dramatically lower costs.”

Transforming Wi-Fi at Hotels from a Toy into a Tool

Until now, Wi-Fi within hotels has been relegated to providing Internet access to guests. Running IP-based video, voice and data over single Wi-Fi network hasn’t been possible due to capacity limitations and has been exacerbated by the inability of conventional Wi-Fi technology to deal with interference, range issues, dropped packets and obstacles that cause signal degradation.

Recent technical advances in Wi-Fi correct these problems by constantly forming and directing signals over the highest performing paths to ensure flawless reception of media-rich and latency-sensitive applications.

Instead of having discrete and disparate networks to support different services, hotels are increasingly interested in moving to an all-IP infrastructure so a myriad of services can be efficiently delivered over a single system.

To support IP-based VoD today, many hotels must deploy expensive coaxial injectors at the headend. In guest rooms, where Ethernet cabling is not always available or easily installed, coaxial adapters terminate these connections, outputting an Ethernet signal to one or more set top boxes.

“Everything in hotels – from minibars to TVs, point of sale services to digital signage – is going IP, ­” said Sandro Natale, president and CEO of Superclick, Inc., a leading provider of IP infrastructure management and services for leading hotels around the country.

The Real Benefits of Smarter Wi-Fi for the Hospitality Industry

From a hotel development perspective, the benefits of wireless distribution are tremendous. By eliminating costly infrastructure and related equipment needed to deliver an IP-based solution, hotels can potentially save significant capital and operational expense by going wireless.

“Smart Wi-Fi can help eliminate many of the cabling infrastructure challenges that we face in delivering our IP-based VOD solution,” said Darrin Davis, VP of Sales at SuiteLinq, Inc., a leading integrated communication, on-demand entertainment, and business productivity solution provider.

“A Smart Wi-Fi implementation can also expand the base of services that can be delivered – allowing hotels to flow new services over a reliable wireless network,” said Davis.

For new properties the benefits include eliminating extensive cabling, providing greater flexibility to deliver services anywhere, anytime throughout the property and minimizing disruptive retrofitting after the hotel is in operation. It also gives hotels the ability to deliver IP video, digital signage and other value-added services in public areas on demand.

A faster and smarter Wi-Fi infrastructure also breathes new life to existing hotels that want to bring guests the latest and greatest video applications and content but don’t have the infrastructure to be able to deliver such services cost effectively.

“Deploying a Wi-Fi backbone that supports the latest IP-based VoD services using smarter 802.11n technology now enables existing hotels to move to the next generation without absorbing the heavy costs of cabling, room renovation, lease-hold improvements and without shutting down rooms,” said Natale. “This is huge.”