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 Adaptive Networks

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

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 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.

Since 2004, the team at onway ag has been supporting customers to evaluate, plan, implement and operate their WLAN/Network Access Control solutions, as well as offering ongoing support. To date, the team has successfully completed over 100 projects. We would be delighted to support you with your project.