Whilst converting the historic buildings into one of Europe’s most luxurious hotels, Four Seasons decided to incorporate a modern, secure networking infrastructure to provide guests with premium services and to increase staff efficiency. To cater for emerging technologies and aid business growth, a highly scalable solution was essential.

“We wanted an advanced Local Area Network (LAN) to support our Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solution, which required both wired and wireless telephony,” explains Arcangelo Menegazzo, IT manager, Four Seasons Hotel, Florence. “We also needed to provide secure Internet access, CCTV security monitoring and video-on-demand via Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). Moreover, to ensure the business runs smoothly, staff required access to certain network resources.”

After establishing a strong partnership with Alcatel, its telephony provider, the hotel sought a collaborative relationship with a networking specialist. It considered possible solutions from Cisco and TT Tecnosistemi Spa, an HP ProCurve Networking Preferred partner, before opting for a ProCurve Adaptive Network solution.

“The key prerequisites were secure access to resources, user-isolation at access points, the latest wireless security standards, and centralised management and scalability,” adds Menegazzo. “Performance, value-for-money, low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and an excellent return on investment were also paramount.”

The HP ProCurve Adaptive Network solution comprises a number of highly reliable ProCurve 5400zl series switches and 30 ProCurve 5300xl intelligent edge switches, with 75 ProCurve 2600 PWR series managed edge switches providing Power over Ethernet (PoE). All switches are backed by ProCurve’s comprehensive Lifetime Warranty♦.

To ensure an effective wireless LAN, 150 ProCurve Wireless Access Point 530s were deployed throughout the hotel with at least one access point per room to overcome signal propagation problems caused by thick marble walling. A ProCurve Switch xl Access Controller Module links the access points to the hotel’s ProCurve Access Control Server 745wl.

To aid network management and tackle the hotel’s wireless security concerns, Four Seasons implemented ProCurve Manager Plus (PCM+) and ProCurve Mobility Manager (PMM) software. PCM+ allows hotel administrators to configure, update, monitor and troubleshoot wired switches centrally whilst PMM enables staff to plan, deploy, manage and monitor the wireless network from a common, unified network management console. Flexible software licensing and free software updates will provide scalability as the network grows.

“We were very impressed with the quality, security and scalability of ProCurve’s open-standards solution,” comments Menegazzo. “It worked perfectly with Alcatel’s VoIP telephony solution.”

The ProCurve Adaptive Network solution has allowed Four Seasons to introduce wired and wireless VoIP telephony successfully throughout its hotel. ProCurve’s reliable, high-availability switches are well suited to LANs, supporting features such as Quality of Service (QoS) whilst its managed edge switches offer costeffective deployment and management of wireless LAN access points, IP phones and security cameras.

All ProCurve switches can transport IPTV data without affecting network performance and the system carries video signals, via a separate channel to all locations served by a switch.

Wired VoIP and Voice over Wireless LAN (VoWLAN) allows Four Seasons to optimise voice transmissions over devices such as laptops and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). This technology offers low cost calls, scalability, enhanced sound quality and improved staff communications.

Today, the Four Seasons Hotel, Florence has a modern wired and wireless networking that satisfies guests’ service level expectations by providing secure VoIP telephony, Internet access and video-on-demand. The highly scalable solution caters for future business development and helps staff perform their duties more productively. A CCTV monitoring capability protects and reassures guests and staff.

“By recognising plugged-in devices automatically, ProCurve technology provides a highly secure access solution for a hotel environment where administrators have little control over the type of wireless devices in use. The ProCurve Lifetime Warranty will undoubtedly lower TCO and we expect a good return on investment. We are looking forward to expanding the solution to 38 new rooms,” concludes Menegazzo.

• Adaptive Network
• Communications and Collaboration
• Mobility
• Network Systems and Management
• Security

• HP ProCurve Switch 5400zl series
• HP ProCurve Switch 5300xl series
• HP ProCurve Switch 2600 PWR series
• HP ProCurve Wireless Access Point 530
• HP ProCurve Switch xl Access Contoller
  Module
• HP ProCurve Access Control Server 745 wl
  Primary software
• HP ProCurve Manager Plus (PCM+)
• HP ProCurve Mobility Manager (PMM)

HP ProCurve is the Network of Choice for best-in-class solutions, products and services for wired and wireless networks. ProCurve's Adaptive Networks vision enables customers to implement an open, standards-based network infrastructure that adapts to the changing needs of users, applications and organizations. ProCurve was positioned in the Leaders quadrant in research and advisory firm Gartner Inc.'s 2008 Magic Quadrant Report for Global Campus LANs and is No. 2 worldwide in Ethernet switch market revenue and ports according to Dell'Oro Group.

Further information on ProCurve networking solutions and products is available at www.procurve.com.