Hamilton Island is located off the northeastern coast of Australia in the Great Barrier Reef. With its own airport, extensive convention and exhibition space, and a range of retail shops and luxury hotels/resorts, Hamilton Island is a popular destination for tourists and business travelers alike. Additionally, most of those people who work on the island also reside on the island.
Challenges
- With a variety of venues spread out over a wide area, Hamilton Island needed a high-speed Internet access (HSIA) solution that could provide quality Internet access for both guests and staff across the entire island.
- The previous HSIA solution was unable to handle the demand for bandwidth, especially during peak times of use, resulting in a slow Internet connection and dissatisfied guests.
- Hamilton Island required additional controls to manage appropriate staff access to the Internet networks.
“Even in isolated locations, such as an island, visitors can stay connected — whether for work or pleasure. When Hamilton Island decided to improve their Internet infrastructure, we came on board with Nomadix to provide the most robust solution possible — ensuring that guests have a positive Internet experience during their stay.” Matthew Watson, Chief Operating Officer MCLAREN TECHNOLOGIES
Solution
- Hamilton Island enlisted the help of McLaren Technologies, a well-known Asia-Pacific information technology (IT) solutions specialist, to upgrade their Internet infrastructure and design a scalable, plug-and-play solution that could grow with the increasing demands for bandwidth across the island. This included the ability to accommodate the rise in the number of mobile devices carried by each guest — with each mobile device requiring access to the Internet.
- The solution also needed to provide detailed reporting and analytics of Internet traffic so that bandwidth could be effectively managed and controlled for each device/user.
- McLaren turned to Nomadix to provide the gateways for the HSIA solution. Equipped with high throughput to accommodate intensive usage and near wire speed, Nomadix gateways can meet increased bandwidth demands to keep Internet traffic flowing. Nomadix’s gateways are also known for their reliability — a key attribute for McLaren to achieve the desired functionality that Hamilton Island was seeking in an Internet management solution.
- The end solution paired two Nomadix Internet gateways — one catering to guest traffic, the other catering to staff traffic — with a McLaren fluide portal HSIA platform and package management system (PMS). Various modules were built into the solution, including the Hospitality Module from Nomadix and the Conference Management and Device Tracking modules from McLaren.
- The collaboration between McLaren and Nomadix led to the creation of a single, unified solution that enabled Hamilton Island to present a different look and feel to various types of users — such as those with free access, in-room access and hotspot access as well as conference users and staff. The solution also enabled roaming between zones and multiple devices per account.
- Additionally, automated alerts are now issued when employees try to access the guest Internet, and daily reports of guest Internet transactions and data usage are also provided.
“We experienced a dramatic improvement in the quality of our Internet access thanks to Nomadix and McLaren. Our guests couldn’t be happier.” Michael Dunn HAMILTON ISLAND
Results
- Analytics ~ The solution provided Hamilton Island with access to detailed analytics, including reporting of Internet usage per device and per guest. These reporting capabilities have enabled unprecedented levels of visibility into guest and staff Internet usage as well as device movements during a guest’s stay. Such metrics allow properties to shape bandwidth accordingly.
- Quality of Service ~ One of the chief problems with the old HSIA solution was low-quality service and resulting complaints from guests about slow access. The new HSIA platform gave Hamilton Island better bandwidth management, which has led to an improvement in Internet performance — even during peak usage. Plus, providing the staff with their own network means they no longer take away bandwidth from the guest network. These improvements have resulted in a dramatic increase in guest satisfaction.
- Productivity ~ With a simple, single-page login process for all guests, staff no longer needs to provide support when guests wish to access the Internet. This enables staff to concentrate on other aspects of their jobs.
- Scalability ~ The new solution enables Hamilton Island to easily create new on-island locations, guest plans and conference portals.
- Roaming ~ Automated roaming capabilities between locations for designated types of guests resulted in seamless connectivity without guests needing to log in again, which has led to a better visitor experience.
- Ongoing Benefits ~ Working in partnership with clients, McLaren Technologies develops flexible customized portals that further enhance and manage the guest experience. The McLaren solution includes a Nomadix gateway and McLaren’s fluide web portal controlling bandwidth management, data usage, access times and all aspects of the user’s Internet experience. The fluide platform also includes a web-based Management and Reporting Platform to provide comprehensive graphical and numerical data analysis across multiple locations.
“With a highly skilled team of engineers and product specialists, McLaren is well-respected across the Asia-Pacific region for delivering innovative solutions for the hospitality industry. So when they came to us with this Hamilton Island project, we didn’t hesitate.” – Fred Reeder CHIEF COMMERCIAL & OPERATING OFFICER, NOMADIX
