Malmaison And Hotel du Vin Hotel Chains Install Proxim Wi-Fi And Wi-Fi Mesh Systems For Guest Internet Access

Published 31st March 2008

Airangel states Proxim Wireless Mesh provides broadband access speeds and reduces installation time...

London, March 26, 2008 – Proxim Wireless Corporation (NASDAQ: PRXM), a leader in core-to-client solutions for broadband wireless networks, today announced that in conjunction with its partner, Airangel, it has supplied broadband wireless mesh equipment to the Malmaison and Hotel du Vin Hotel Chains. The Malmaison and Hotel du Vin Hotels can now offer wireless internet access to their guests throughout the 22 hotels located across the UK.

Airangel, a specialist in providing guest internet access solutions, was responsible for deploying the Proxim Wireless networks in 11 Malmaison and 11 Hotel du Vin hotels, the UK’s leading lifestyle hotels. Proxim AP-700s were installed in each hotel in addition to Proxim AP-4000s in a mesh environment at the Malmaison hotel in Manchester, where the public space areas of the building were particularly awkward to network due to cabling restrictions.

“Some of the hotels are very old buildings and required wireless mesh to seamlessly connect areas that were not possible to connect via ethernet. Wireless mesh allowed us to provide our customers with broadband access speeds, while reducing our network installation time. For example the Hotel du Vin in Birmingham is the old Eye Hospital and was a tricky building to re-cable, so installing a wireless network was the only viable solution,” explained Chris Airey, Operations Director of Airangel.

“Our hotel guests expect the best service, and providing wireless internet access was essential. We were looking for a wireless network, which was reliable and robust, so Airangel specified the Proxim Wireless solution, which they managed to install with the least disruption to the running of the hotels,” said Mark Jelley, IT Director at Malmaison and Hotel du Vin Hotels. “We are planning to increase the number of hotels to 26 by the end of 2008 and plan to install wireless networks in each one of them.”

“Working together with Airangel, we have delivered a robust, cost-effective and secure wireless network. The Proxim Wireless infrastructure really comes into its own when there are difficult buildings to network, providing a highly reliable solution,” said Anthony Fulgoni, VP International Strategic Sales for Proxim Wireless.