AFL Delivers End-to-End Managed Wi-Fi Service Solution to Hyatt Regency Newport

03/03/2009

Spartanburg, SC - With million dollar views and a recently completed $34 million dollar resort-wide renovation, the Hyatt Regency Newport’s spectacular private island location is the perfect setting for its event facility. Featuring versatile meeting space, the facility required high-performance mobile Wi-Fi coverage enabling guests to maintain seamless connectivity throughout the facility. AFL and BelAir Networks addressed these requirements as part of an end-to-end managed Wi-Fiservice solution.

“For our requirements, BelAir Networks’ products deliver the highest performance ubiquitous coverage at the lowest cost – and they’re quick and easy to deploy so there’s no disruption to our guests,” said Ron Hardin, IT Director, Davidson Hotel Company, one of the nation’s largest independent hotel management companies. Davidson Hotel Company bought the Hyatt Regency Newport in a joint venture with Amstar Group in 2006. “Davidson Hotel Company consistently creates and enhances value in each of its owned and managed properties and BelAir Networks high-performance Wi-Fi has become part of that value proposition.”

AFL provides Davidson Hotel Company with an end–to-end managed Wi-Fi service solution to address their requirements at the Hyatt Regency Newport and other hotels and resorts in the Davidson portfolio. AFL deployed just eight BelAir100 wireless access points to provide high-performance Wi-Fi coverage of 27,000 square feet of function space, including ballrooms, meeting rooms and pre-function areas. AFL’s end-to-end solution at the Hyatt Regency Newport includes network design, installation, management and ongoing support. AFL also installed and supports a new Internet connectivity management and billing system along with a solution for application-specific traffic management and bandwidth shaping to ensure a consistent user experience.

“Because we’re providing an end-to-end managed Wi-Fi service solution, we want best-of- breed technology that’s easy to manage, and, of course, cost is always an issue,” said Kent Brown, Director, Access Solutions, AFL. “Whatever the deployment situation – indoors, outdoors, in both new installations and network upgrades/replacements – we’ve found that BelAir Networks’ comprehensive portfolio of indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi networking products consistently deliver high-performance, highly reliable and very cost-effective Wi-Fi coverage that we can deploy quickly and manage both centrally and remotely.”

Driven by the powerful, feature-rich BelAirOS operating system software and managed by BelView, BelAir Networks offers the industry’s most comprehensive product portfolio of indoor access points (AP) and outdoor wireless nodes supporting both Wi-Fi and WiMAX, as well as public safety, defense and intelligent transportation system (ITS) frequency bands. BelAir Networks’ deployments require less equipment and wiring than traditional Wi-Fi access points, reducing the cost, time, labor and maintenance associated with the network deployment and its ongoing operation. Hosted software-based control enables centralized management and lowers network CapEx by about 30%. The highly reliable and esthetically attractive BelAir nodes and APs enable hotel operators to get Wi-Fi up and running quickly with no disruption to guests, visitors or staff.

“AFL’s extensive networking experience and commitment to providing end-to-end managed Wi-Fi service solutions enables leading hospitality operators and management companies, such as Davidson Hotel Company, to address increasing demand for high-performance wireless networking driven by the growing number of Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices and applications,” said Dave Park, VP, Product Marketing, BelAir Networks. “With a managed Wi-Fi service model, hotels and resorts can address Wi-Fi demand and opportunities without creating additional strain on internal IT resources.”

About AFL
AFL is headquartered in Spartanburg, South Carolina. With 35 field offices in the U.S. and over 1300 employees, AFL provides telecommunications installation and maintenance services in the enterprise, wireline and wireless markets. For additional information on products and services offered by AFL and its affiliates visit www.AFLglobal.com.

About BelAir Networks
BelAir Networks is the technology and market leader delivering the industry’s highest performance mobile broadband networking solutions for video, voice and data applications. Founded in 2001, BelAir Networks is a privately held company backed by investment from leading venture capital firms including Comcast Interactive Capital, T-Mobile Venture Fund and Trilogy Equity Partners. For more information about BelAir Networks products and customers, visit www.belairnetworks.com.

About Davidson Hotel Company
Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., Davidson Hotel Company is an award-winning, full-service hotel owner and third-party management company that provides management, development/renovation, acquisition, consulting and accounting expertise for the hospitality industry. The company currently owns and/or manages 32 upscale, independent and branded hotels with nearly 9,100 rooms across the United States, including such affiliations as Westin, Sheraton, Hyatt, Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Embassy Suites, Doubletree, Marriott, Renaissance, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn. Additional information on Davidson may be found at the company’s Web site, www.davidsonhotels.com.

Contacts
AFL
Kent Brown
864.433.8072
kent.brown@aflglobal.com

BelAir Networks
Sheila Burpee Duncan
613.254.7070 ext. 134
sburpeeduncan@belairnetworks.com

Davidson Hotel Company
Cyndi Norwood
cnorwood@davidsonhotels.com