The Ruckus ZoneFlex Smart WLAN products are being installed in twenty resorts to provide ubiquitous, high-speed Wi-Fi service across more than 750 acres of resort property, supporting more than 5,000 guest rooms. Sandals plans to use the new high capacity Wi-Fi network to support a myriad of applications including reliable, ultra-fast broadband access for guests, digital signage, voice over IP, point-of-sale and video installations.

The Sandals all-11n Smart Wi-Fi network leverages recent advances in Ruckus Smart Mesh Networking that enables its indoor and outdoor access points to be deployed without Ethernet cabling and complex wireless topology design. Managed centrally by the ZoneDirector Smart WLAN controller, the indoor/outdoor APs self-organize into a mesh network that enables Sandals to extend non-stop Wi-Fi services to places such as beaches, villas, gazebos, restaurants, coffee shops, pools, patios and other common areas for greater guest satisfaction.

Each Sandals resort is diverse, comprised of many different environments, building materials and coverage challenges. For instance, the Sandals Grande Ocho Rios Beach & Villa Resort, a 100-acre resort property, houses eight gourmet restaurants and twelve bars, seven outdoor main pools, ninety-three semi-private pools, four tennis courts, two fitness centers, two self-contained spas, twenty-two whirlpools and four saunas.

"The combination of 802.11n and Smart Mesh networking is a compelling alternative to conventional wireless LAN systems. For the first time, high speed Wi-Fi service can be extended anywhere and everywhere without the constraints of cabling, said Selina Lo, president and CEO of Ruckus Wireless. "It gives the hospitality industry a future proofed system that allows companies to easily and more cost-effectively monetize wireless services while giving guests the best possible experience. Sandals Resorts is the perfect case study on how to do 802.11n right."

Wi-Fi That Goes Farther, Faster and Around Obstacles Keeping Guests Unplugged but Well Connected

According to Sandals, the Ruckus ZoneFlex systems was selected over competitive alternatives due to its ability to provide longer range, directional Wi-Fi signals that are automatically steered to avoid interference and obstacles, thereby providing guests consistent and reliable Wi-Fi connections.

"Sandals Resorts has built a reputation providing luxury services that are simply exceptional," said Bobby Stewart, Treasury Director at Sandals Resorts. "Why should our world-class Wi-Fi service be any different?"

The large-scale Sandals deployment includes hundreds of Ruckus Wireless indoor and outdoor ZoneFlex 802.11n Smart Wi-Fi access points along with ZoneDirector Smart WLAN controllers to deliver Wi-Fi services across virtually 100 percent of each property including hundreds of meters of beach resorts.

"After looking at a number of alternatives, we weren't able to find a wireless solution capable of delivering the range, reliability and consistent performance needed to properly service our guests while supporting a whole host of new applications planned such as Wi-Fi phones for staff and guests," said Stewart. "Then we found the Ruckus ZoneFlex 802.11n system and our vision is now becoming a reality."

According to Sandals, the Ruckus ZoneFlex system was the only WLAN system to support wireless meshing with 802.11n, and it comes at a fraction of the cost of comparable alternatives. "802.11n coupled with wireless meshing is a very unique and powerful combination that gives us more flexibility in terms of what we might want to do in the future," said Stewart.

While Sandals has provided high-speed wired connectivity in its properties for some time, the resorts have noticed that more and more guests are bringing Wi-Fi-enabled devices on vacation -- and have responded accordingly to meet that need. "Most of our guests spend their time outdoors so we had a big challenge of how to cost-effectively deliver higher-speed Wi-Fi in the public and common areas where there isn't Ethernet cabling," said Stewart.

Sandals wanted a robust wireless LAN solution that both minimized the number of access points required for complete coverage while unifying the indoor and outdoor environments into a single, centrally managed wireless infrastructure. The Ruckus ZoneFlex system lets Sandals easily enhance their network in the future by placing additional access points wherever coverage is needed without having to run additional cable drops. Both indoor and outdoor ZoneFlex 802.11n APs are automatically coordinated and centrally managed by the Ruckus ZoneDirector WLAN controller.

"With 802.11n and Smart Mesh networking we now have the capacity needed to support a large number of simultaneous users, the coverage to provide this capacity everywhere, the flexibility to add new Wi-Fi simply and easily and the ability to manage the entire network from a single spot," concluded Stewart.

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