"We did need to replace the [legacy] system due to age, spare parts, and maintenance issues," he said, "but we also wanted to be competitive. The hotel industry must be progressive-always evolving and refurbishing to be competitive in the marketplace."

The IT team conducted a comprehensive tendering process with a short-list of three vendors, eventually settling on a Nortel-based system. "The Nortel product is the heart of the whole system," said Rogers, adding that all guests now enjoy broadband in their rooms both wired and wireless, IP telephones, in-room fax, messaging and other facilities.

Quantifiable benefits

"The prime driver was the age of the legacy system," said Rogers, "it was time to change." But he added that the new system allows the hotel to keep 100 percent of revenue from sales of broadband, not the revenue-share arrangement with their previous broadband provider-a boost to ROI.

David Wong, managing director of Nortel Hong Kong, Macau and South China, said that key customers using his firm's products in the region include the Sheraton Hotel and Towers and Shangri-La in Hong Kong as well as the Langham; the Macau Emperor and Venetian casinos in Macau, and Nansha World Trade Center in southern China. Wong added that his firm aims to "deliver enhanced communication solutions that support innovative services, improve guest loyalty and bolster profitability."