New Orleans’ Roosevelt Waldorf Astoria Selects IMT for High-Performance Wi-Fi

Management at one of Hilton Hotels’ most prestigious properties, The Roosevelt Waldorf Astoria in New Orleans, was having a Wi-Fi crisis.  The proliferation of mobile devices was overtaxing traditional wireless networking and the The Roosevelt was feeling the pinch.

Superior Wi-Fi at top hotels is no longer an option when it comes to high level conferences and company meetings.  Management at the Waldorf-Astoria called on Integrated Media Technologies, Inc. (IMT) to find a solution to the density of mobile devices that was overburdening their Wi-Fi spaces.

“We thought we had the latest and greatest system, but apparently we were wrong,”  explained Fred Sidhva, a top Hilton manager.  “When our clientele is paying good money for their corporate gatherings, we have to give them a totally reliable Wi-Fi experience.  We needed a new approach, so we contacted IMT.”

Throughout this century and the last, The Roosevelt has strived to provide world leaders, business executives and entertainment icons with an unrivaled meetings and events service. Twenty-three separate and unique meeting rooms and 3 grand ballrooms comprise the hotel’s 5574 m/60 000 sq. ft. of event space offering a wealth of venue options.

“This project was a challenge with a tight deadline,” remarked Garth Gilmour, IMT’s VP Professional Services. “When the Waldorf contacted us, they expressed concern about the supposedly solid Wi-Fi system they had installed.  IMT had already gone through the Hilton standardization process, so we visited the New Orleans location, created a new design for them and were given the green light to proceed.”
Gilmour and the IMT team chose to develop the solution with the new Meraki MR14 dual-radio 802.11n access point series.  “Meraki is leading the pack today because they have realtime tools that are built in,” continued Gilmour.  “We’ve enhanced and integrated those tools through third party interfaces, allowing us to do  a fast and dynamic analysis of the hotel environment.  Just a year ago, that would have required a $25,000 analyzer and a team of technicians working for weeks.”

“We just didn’t have the luxury of time and another giant budget to fix this,” added Fred Sidhva.  “We gave IMT a very small window to work in — just two nights when the conference rooms were vacant between midnight and 3 AM.  We needed a product that could be deployed very effectively, very efficiently, and very quickly.  IMT hit the ground running and got the job done right, the first time.”

An effective wireless deployment requires universal coverage throughout the hotel meeting spaces.  An efficient deployment is like a military rescue: get in and get out.  Gilmour concluded,”We’ve found that with Meraki, the installation time is cut by 40%.  We have to guarantee that everything is working perfectly, but we also have to thoroughly train the hotel IT staff so that they have got everything covered when we leave.”

Password must contain the following:

A lowercase letter

A capital (uppercase) letter

A number

Minimum 8 characters

;
SVGLogoHR_NOTAG-200

The Latest in Sports Video Production & Technology
in Your Inbox for FREE

Daily Email Newsletters Monday - Friday