The Demand

The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong located in the 488 meter tall International  Commerce  Center (ICC), West Kowloon,  oc-cupies the 102nd to 118th floors, making it the world・s tallest hotel. Offering panoramic views of Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong Island, and the New Territories, this ultra-luxurious,  five  star  hotel  opened  in March 2011.

The challenge: providing Wi-Fi service to 312 rooms and public areas and ensuring seamless roaming for VoIP calls--and testing and install-ing the wireless solution more than one hun-dred stories up while the building, the tallest in Hong Kong, was still under construction.

The Solution

Edge-Core Networks partner SUNeVision Su-per e-Technology (www.superetech.com.hk), one of Hong Kong・s top system integrators, secured the prestigious Ritz-Carlton contract and arranged for the installation and configu-ration of the Edge-Core wireless solution. The equipment was provided by Skyware Com-munications (http://www.skyware.com.hk), an authorized Edge-Core distributor in Hong Kong since 2006.

With a clear expectation of superior quality for all aspects of the guest experience at one of the world・s most storied hotel chains, delivering robust signal strength and 100% coverage 24/7 was non-negotiable.

After much testing, the installation team of engineers and technicians decided to place 16 access points and two switches on every floor. Because line power was unavail-able in the ceiling, Edge-Core Networks PoE switches were deemed the best way to go.

The final architecture of the solution was based on the installation of three types of network equipment: Indoor Access Points, PoE Managed Switches, and Core Routing Chassis Switches. Specifically, this meant 300 EAP8518 IEEE 802.11n wireless enterprise dual band APs, thirty ES3528MF-PoE Layer 2/Layer 4 PoE switches, and a pair of ES4710BD 10-slot Layer 3 enterprise switches.

The Result

Today, the guests of the newly reborn Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, which was formerly located in Hong Kong・s Central district from 1993 to 2008, enjoy some of the finest ameni-ties and services at one of Asia・s showcase hotel facilities.

Besides being able to grab a beverage at the world・s tallest bar and take a dip in the world・s highest swimming pool, Ritz-Carlton visitors can take advantage of secure, high speed  Wi-Fi  connectivity  in  each  room  on the  hotel・s  16 floors  as well as  in the shopping mall and additional pub-lic areas thanks to the successful installation of a compre-hensive Edge-Core wireless solution deployed throughout the landmark hotel.