Intercontinental Hotels: Solving nagging connectivity issues with smarter Wi-Fi

Overview

The interior walls at the Mark Hopkins in San Francisco were constructed of thick metal lathe core with concrete plaster. This severely restricts the penetration of wireless signals. Faced with the choice of deploying more access points for better coverage or fewer access points with a stronger signal, the hotel added RF amplifiers and 5dBi cone antennas to its legacy 802.11g access points. And this did the trick, until voice came calling.

This case study gives an overview of the Wi-Fi solution implemented to eliminate dropped connections and unstable performance for Vocera voice over IP (VoIP) system, as well as high-density Wi-Fi support for meeting rooms, roaming problems, central management for Wi-Fi access points and remote management of WLAN.