Aruba Networks Installs Enterprise-Class Wi-Fi at Ezdan Hotels West Bay in Qatar

Aruba Networks, Inc. has successfully completed one of the Middle East’s largest wireless LAN projects in hospitality at the 3,000 room Ezdan Hotels West Bay in Qatar. In addition to enabling complimentary Wi-Fi services across the facility, the Aruba wireless overlay design dramatically cuts network cabling costs saving Ezdan Hotels West Bay.

“Today Wi-Fi is an imperative technology to satisfy travellers who expect to stay connected at all times,” said Samer Habbouch, Territory Manager, Qatar at Aruba Networks. “Although most guests expect Wi-Fi to be a free service, they are quick to vocalize their dissatisfaction if the wireless quality is not up to mark. Aruba's enterprise-class mobility solution has enabled Ezdan to provide its guests with hassle-free, secure and reliable Internet access.”

According to Ezdan Hotels West Bay, the decision to select the Aruba solution was based on the proactive support of Aruba Networks and its integration partner, Qatar Datamation Systems (QDS), and Aruba’s ability to centrally manage and automate labour-intensive tasks. This was particularly important given the large size of the property, which made manually configuring and maintaining Access Points (APs) a significant challenge.

While the Hotel continued to operate at full capacity, QDS completed the deployment in just three months, avoiding any inconvenience to guests. QDS installed Aruba wireless across the entire facility including guest rooms, banquet halls, parking, pool and additional guest areas. Each AP was strategically deployed to extend wireless coverage to more than one room, reducing the number of APs and installation time to reduce overall cost. The hotel utilized Aruba Mobility Controllers, giving its IT team the ability to manage secure authentication, encryption, VPN connections, IPv4 and IPv6 services and wireless intrusion protection for more than 32,000 mobile devices simultaneously.

With Aruba's solution in place, Ezdan Hotels West Bay now has complete visibility and control of the network and devices on it from a single, easy-to-use interface. The hotel's IT Team has also added comprehensive real-time monitoring capabilities to streamline troubleshooting and remediation by implementing Aruba AirWave Network Management. According to Aruba, AirWave allows the hotel to ‘identify and resolve problems in its wireless network before the issue results in helpdesk calls from guests’.

“Aruba's mobility solutions are centered around delivering enterprise-grade quality and performance in a cost-efficient package,” said Samer Habbouch. “This huge project at Ezdan Hotels West Bay is further validation of our capabilities to meet #GenMobile mobility needs in the hospitality sector. The new Aruba infrastructure not only supports complimentary Wi-Fi for guests, but can also be leveraged as a platform to generate new revenue streams through premium service offerings.”