Ruckus Networks
Redefining Connectivity in the Realm of Hospitality

"Hospitality technology is at an inflection point today,” begins Larry Birnbaum, Vice President of Global Hospitality and Multi-Dwelling Unit (MDU) Business Development and Solutions, Ruckus Networks, “different factors coming from different trajectories and sources are all centered on the innovation and convergence of technology and lifestyle. Along the same lines, the hospitality industry has to adapt to this convergence of lifestyle with the traveling public.” As a seasoned executive in the hospitality industry, Birnbaum owns rich industry expertise coupled with an exceptional understanding of the opportunities and challenges specific to this arena. He articulates how the global hospitality technology industry is witnessing changing business models, government regulations and technology— together at once—and how companies should gear up to embrace the change.

Ruckus Networks, an ARRIS company, aims at understanding and managing the forces that are affecting this convergence. Ruckus is redefining the Wi-Fi experience in hotels with world-class wireless connectivity that simplifies how Wi-Fi, IoT and even LTE networks are deployed at hotels. Ruckus access points are much more than Wi-Fi. They also support IoT wireless protocols such as Zigbee and BLE. These protocols enable IoT applications such as panic buttons, water leak detection, lighting and energy management and other applications to be deployed alongside Wi- Fi, all on a single network. This greatly simplifies Wi-Fi and IoT deployments, reducing costs and allowing for new IoT applications to be deployed quickly.

Ruckus has also been a leading advocate Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS). Birnbaum states, “CBRS will enable organizations to manage the merging of regulated and unregulated spectra.”This will empower hotels to create their own private LTE network and ensure mobile is available throughout the entire hotel.

Management and monitoring all activities on the network will become even more critical as Wi-Fi, IoT, and CBRS/LTE are part of one single network. Ruckus is providing management and visibility tools based on the basic management level, with the ability to create common APIs, thereby enabling easy management and monitoring of activities on the network. This allows Ruckus managed service provider partners to create dashboards specifically designed for hotel management and network support personnel.

Hotels today rely on secure and pervasive LTE and Wi-Fi coverage for hotel associates to access internal applications in support of the guest experience. “While some companies choose to focus on network component price, Ruckus is focused creating solution platforms which enable all services and make deployment and management easier for our partners.” says Birnbaum with pride.

As opposed to our competitors who consider only the component price, Ruckus is focused on delivering the end-solution without compromising on the quality

Catering to a wide range of star-rated hotels, Ruckus is dedicated to providing high-end networking capabilities and best-in-class services within the hotel environment for both guests and the associates. “The number of stars on the brand name of a hotel does not necessarily dictates its requirement for technology,” points out Birnbaum, “we have tools to support any organization in the hospitality sector and improve wireless connectivity within the environment.” Ruckus presents a groundbreaking single management tool, SmartZone 5, with a user interface (UI) to control both wired and wireless networks. This simplifies management of the entire network.

In one instance, Ruckus Networks assisted in improving the wireless experience and capabilities of a large >1,500 room hotel in Florida. Throughout the large complex, users faced difficulties roaming between access points and saturation interference from too many APs within range of each other. Working with a Hospitality Reseller partner, Ruckus effectively brought proper wireless management, visibility and scale to the hotel. In other documented cases, the support calls for hotels deployed with Ruckus Networks are reduced by over two thirds compared to other network component makers.