Hilton Frankfurt Extends Wireless Local Area Network To Guests With Wireless Switch From Symbol Technologies

Symbol Technologies, Inc. , a global leader in enterprise mobility solutions, today announced that Hilton Group Germany has installed the in its Frankfurt hotel. Implemented in cooperation with WLAN AG, Germany's leading WLAN systems integrator, this wireless installation at Hilton's new facility is the first of its kind in Germany and is available to guests and staff on a 24/7 basis.

The Symbol wireless switch is a single wireless networking system that tightly integrates into the wired-enterprise network core and delivers advanced wireless services and connectivity to the network edge. This single system delivers centralized intelligence, management and security at the networking switch layer. The Symbol approach is significantly more economical when compared to enterprise-class 802.11b and 802.11a (or dual-mode) WLAN Access Points and provides an intelligent adoption path for 802.11a and 802.11g.

With installation of the 76 Access Ports and three network switches taking just three days, WLAN AG worked closely with the Hilton's IT department to ensure that Access Point locations guaranteed 100 percent network coverage. The hotel is now using the WLAN for its own management systems, while guests can access the WLAN using laptops, PDAs or mobile phones by purchasing an for periods of either two or 24 hours. Alternatively, access costs can be reverse-charged through to the user's mobile phone bill, once a code is sent by short messaging services (SMS). While network speed is normally 512Kb per second, this can be expanded to 11Mb per second based on demand.

"The Hilton Group has always had a reputation for delivering top quality guest facilities and we believe that our provision of a WLAN continues this," said Glenn Schreiber, IT manager for the Hilton Frankfurt.

"The capabilities of Symbol's new technology means that we can set up and administer separate networks, while maintaining security at all levels, be it for guests accessing their corporate networks or for our own internal management network. In the future, we intend to implement WLAN networks for restaurant and room service use, which, combined with staff using , will improve and speed-up service at all levels," he added.

"Public hot-spots are becoming an expectation and this installation is the first of several for the Symbol wireless switch in Hilton's German hotels. WLAN AG has worked closely with Hilton at all stages of the installation to ensure the best solution was achieved and continues to give the hotel and its WLAN users 2nd level technical support on an ongoing basis, with the hotel's IT staff covering the 1st level," noted Marcus Krebs, general manager .

The Symbol wireless switch features two hardware components - the - and a suite of software components including the Symbol (featuring Symbol KeyGuard with enhanced TKIP, Kerberos authentication, IEEE 802.1x, EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS with RADIUS, Wireless VPN and planned VPN integration); AirBEAM Manager wireless network management; and the advanced wireless networking services currently available in Symbol .

Through VLAN (virtual LAN) architecting and policy-based networking, the new Symbol system can allocate wireless bandwidth, security and networking services by device, by user, by application and by location, all from a single Access Port.

Additional information about the Symbol wireless switch can be found at the Symbol Technologies CeBIT fair stand located in Hall 9, Stand B42, or at .