Sheraton Station Square Hotel Powers Wireless Network And Point Of Sale Application With Colubris

Waltham, MA - Colubris Networks, the leading global provider of intelligent wireless LANs (WLANs) for enterprises and service providers, recently announced that Sheraton Station Square, Pittsburgh's only premier downtown riverfront hotel, has deployed a Colubris wireless network to launch innovative wireless point-of-sale (POS) applications and improved guest Internet access. Sheraton Station Square deployed the Colubris wireless solution through Guest-Tek, a leading supplier of broadband services to the hospitality industry.

Sheraton Station Square, part of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc., is a 400-room property that attracts both business and leisure travelers from around the world with its proximity to the city's downtown corporate center, as well as dozens of retail shops and restaurants. The hotel was looking for opportunities to make food and beverage services more convenient for guests, while at the same time improving internal operational efficiencies.

Working with Guest-Tek, and leveraging Colubris' latest generation wireless networking equipment, Sheraton Station Square deployed a mobile POS application that allows guests to purchase food and beverages from any location in the hotel using a variety of payment options, including credit cards. To support such an application, Sheraton Station Square required a WLAN solution compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), and that incorporated strict security features, including robust encryption, authentication, and intrusion detection and prevention. Sheraton Station Square was impressed with the new Colubris Secure Traffic Tunneling feature, which provides the option to encrypt/decrypt selected communications streams in its central controller for security that meets PCI-DSS requirements. Support for strong IPSec or AES cryptography gives Colubris customers the flexibility to use a variety of mobile POS devices.

"Our Colubris WLAN has proven extremely cost-effective, dependable and flexible, which allows us to better serve our customers with the conveniences of guest access and POS transactions," said Tommy Knerr, area director of IT for Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. "Colubris' WLAN provides an impressive combination of the utmost in security functionality, including full PCI compliance, and top-notch performance. The Colubris WLAN is perfectly suited to our property's needs."

In addition to the mobile POS application, Sheraton Station Square also wanted to offer guests continuous wireless Internet access from all of its meeting rooms, including its grand ballroom, which features nearly 10,000 square feet of meeting space. With the Colubris solution in place, hotel guests are able to conveniently access the Internet to log on to their favorite Web sites or check business emails from almost anywhere in the hotel. The Colubris solution segregates guest traffic from internal hotel applications which allows Sheraton Station Square to fully reap the benefits of its WLAN by supporting a diverse set of users, applications and devices while maintaining high performance for all traffic traversing the network.

"Colubris wireless networking equipment has a tremendous reputation in the industry for both performance and security, which are key features in not only a successful mobile POS application, but also in high-performing guest access solutions," said Tom Pullen, vice president, North American Sales, Guest-Tek. "Colubris is a trusted partner because we know that its WLAN equipment meets the highest quality standards at a very attractive price point."

Sheraton Station Square deployed the Colubris Intelligent Mobility Solution, including several MultiService Access Points and a MultiService Controller, which allows the hotel to centrally manage the entire network from a single location. The access points are easily configured through the central management interface, and provide anytime, anywhere access while also delivering optimal application performance.

"Hotels are increasingly demanding more from their wireless networks than just supporting guest access and Colubris is more than up to the task," said Tom Racca, vice president of marketing of Colubris Networks. "Whether it's rock-solid security, performance or overall flexibility, hotels such as Sheraton Station Square can count on Colubris to meet their requirements for wireless networks now and in the future."

SOURCE: Colubris Networks