Discreet Wi-Fi

The laptop-toting international traveler is a Wi-Fi animal who is becoming
increasingly sophisticated in his computing habits. He needs direct Internet or
VPN access on the fly with some decent security inputs thrown in; in the most
luxurious of settings, the always-online traveler hates being exposed to all the
wiring, which are like "raw nerves on a graceful horse's back" as
one tech manager described it.

Above all, the wireless user loves discreet service and aesthetics, as the
Oberoi chain of hotels realized long ago in every department of the hospitality
business. Getting Wi-Fi routers or "hotspots" to look pretty and well
camouflaged or even hide them are not ideas which occur to the average corporate
user. Inventing ways to pretend that they are not really there is quite a
creative challenge. For, the system administrators and managements would have to
go to surprising lengths to hide their wireless access points from view, as the
Oberoi Hotel in Bangalore demonstrates.

The Oberoi's innovative Wi-Fi population scheme, driven by Symbol
Technologies, has seen a number of innovations being played out which could
change the way the wireless guest (and hopefully, the rest of the laggardly
world) looks at Wi-Fi access.

It's the classic Japanese technique of subterfuge in love and war. Deliver
the goods in the least obtrusive and most classy of ways, and with maximum
effect. Discreetness is the name of the Wi-Fi service. A main imperative behind
the unintrusive Wi-Fi superstructure at the Oberoi was to give the guest the
feeling of fluid Wi-Fi access right on tap, in a seamless manner, no matter if
he is walking over to his laptop from the swimming pool, making a presentation
at the conference halls, or dining at one of the numerous restaurants,
serenading the moon from his suite balcony or lounging in the spacious lobby
next to the concierge.

No matter where you go, the moment the unwired feel the need to compute and
reach for their laptops or PDAs, they can't escape the feeling that a ugly
"hotspot" can't be far away. It's the price to pay for people to
stay connected. Not at the Oberoi.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. THE HIDDEN WI-FI NETWORK: Tapping some innovative wireless installation locations for its Wi-Fi access routers, the Oberoi, Bangalore, makes it difficult for its unwired guests to discover the "hotspots" that provide them on-the-fly Wi-Fi access anywhere on the hotel premises. WLAN access router antennae are well camouflaged (pic 4, antenna circled) against their surroundings on the earthern-coloured roof of a pubhouse (pic 5), while the base unit is discreetly placed behind one of the wooden pillars (pic 3) supporting the structure. This configuration extends wireless coverage across the hotel grounds-the lobby (pic 2), conference halls and restaurants. The rest of the network wirelessly connects guests in every one of the hotel's 158 rooms (pic 1). The Wi-Fi access points are placed behind the sanitary shafts, sealed inside the room walls, where the user can't see them

The 158 rooms are Wi-Fi-ed right into the tub in your bathroom with around 45
access points catering to the entire hotel. "99% of our guests gain online
access through laptops. This is the best way to keep them mobile and online in
every single corner of the hotel," says Arup Banik, Manager (Systems) with
the Oberoi, Bangalore, as he guides me across the lobby and points to the
swimming pool in the distance. Away from the clumps of bathers, and enjoying a
180-degree view of the entire hotel premises is the pool's pubhouse. Painted
in earthen colors and teak-paneled, the pubhouse has the base panel of a WLAN
router placed behind one of its two main pillars, away from curious public gaze.

"This single 802.11b access point alone gives 360-degree wireless access
in every important destination on the premises in a 100-200 metre range,"
he says. "We run on 256 Kbps of raw bandwidth on a hotspot-to-user ratio of
1:1. An average of 10 users per hotspot could reduce throughput."

While innovations in both the airline and hotel industries have
revolutionized the travel market, more hotels are likely to come up with that
little bit extra in service and user-friendly facilities like Wi-Fi. Now, just
how high-tech does the hotel industry need to get to keep the international and
high-brow domestic traveler happy? Discreet Wi-Fi could be just one of the ways.