Trouble-free communication throughout the entire hotel

Initial situation

The Hotel Palace, as the former «Grande Dame» of Lucerne, was to be given a new lease of life as the Hotel Mandarin Palace. In the process of the total renovation, the IT consultancy of the building owner 2021 was looking for a partner to provide a communication network throughout the hotel, in which no communication systems were previously available. Requirements:

• Solid basis for the advancing digitalisation in the hotel industry and thus also the inclusion of future needs of the guests and operators of the hotel
• Scalable local network (LAN, WLAN, WAN load balance and security components)
• Due to the 7×24 hotel operation, the network must be designed to achieve high availability with redundancy of all core components
• Payment Card Industry data security standard and maintenance of secure network configurations.
• Ensure security from cyber-attacks, including from internal guest rooms (protection from internal and external threats)
• Solution is to be realised with products from the manufacturers Cisco Systems, Ruckus and Adaptiv Networks

Decision

The following points convinced the client of the onway solution:

• High expertise and experience with the products of the desired manufacturers
• Flexibility of solution finding in the dynamic environment of refurbishment projects
• Consistent and scalable design of the overall concept
• Automation to implement staging and commissioning efficiently and in a standardised manner
• Fast, pragmatic solution finding for problem areas during the course of the project, especially outside of onway’s solution responsibility

Solution

Network components from Cisco and Commscope/Ruckus ensure smooth communication throughout the building. The IT and OT network have been combined, i.e. the building control, the entertainment
(TV, audio, etc.) as well as the guest Wi-Fi run over the same infrastructure. onway supplied, installed and commissioned the network as system integrator.
The topology used at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Lucerne corresponds to a proven and stable network variant. Due to the clear structure, only parts of the network are affected in the event of a component failure. In addition, the convergence time in the event of a malfunction is deterministic and is in the range of one second.
The following two illustrations show a rough overview from the point of view of the network
components and the clients:

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group is the award-winning owner and operator of some of the world’s most luxurious hotels, resorts and residences. The group has evolved from its Asian roots into a global brand and today operates 38 hotels and ten residences in 24 countries and territories, with each property reflecting the group’s Oriental heritage, local culture and unique design.