Roll the dice: competition prompts casino to cater to business guests with an easy-to-manage wireless LAN - Cover Story

Communications News, Dec, 2003 by Dan Foley

When a group requests wireless access, the hotel staff rolls an access point into the room on a cart, just as they would any audio/visual equipment. A 3Com Ethernet Client Bridge (ECB) is located in each meeting room for attendees without wireless-equipped laptops. A user simply connects to the ECB with an Ethernet cable and the ECB provides a wireless connection to the access point.

Pechanga's casino floor does not have wireless coverage, although there is access in the swimming pool area on the third floor.

The majority of WLAN users are business travelers seeking to stay as connected to work as possible. Most tunnel back to their corporate networks through a virtual private network setup. The guest then uses the connection to keep up on e-mail, conduct Web-based videoconferencing, do research on the Web or access files on the corporate LAN. Convention exhibitors also use the WLAN to connect to demos and product information over the network.

On the user side, guests simply need a laptop with an IP address, either set by their own IT department or generated via DHCP, and a wireless NIC. For those laptop users without wireless NICs, Pechanga offers 3Com wireless LAN PC Cards with XJACK antennas, at a small charge during their stay.

The WLAN is easy to manage for the resort's IT team, Luck says. Web-based tools, embedded in the 3Corn products and the Nomadix gateway, enable Pechanga to monitor performance, set configurations and run diagnostics. The network integrates seamlessly with the resort's wired Gigabit Ethernet network and can support up to 256 users per access point. Pechanga can also add more access points as needed, preparing the resort for future growth, such as the demand created by a large convention.

"The network has been particularly helpful in creating new meeting business, a key revenue source for the resort," offers Luck. The Information Technology Security Conference cited wireless connectivity as a primary factor in choosing Pechanga to host its heavily attended annual meeting earlier in 2003.

"The resort hosts a wide variety of meetings, from high-tech conventions to university and corporate meetings-all of which want and appreciate our wireless network," says Luck. "It's been every bit the difference-maker we hoped."

Although Luck calls WLANs as dependable and reliable as their wired counterparts, Pechanga still faced some planning and implementation issues, including everything from security and laptop configurations to deciding whether to bill for the service.

Like many organizations interested in wireless networks, Pechanga was primarily concerned with security--ensuring every guest could use its WLAN risk-free. While planning the network, Pechanga focused on three major security issues: making authentication simple, protecting guests' data traffic from unauthorized users and insulating its corporate LAN from wireless users.

Authentication proved to be a snap. "Because we deployed wireless hotspots, the network is as open as possible, and anyone with a wireless-enabled computer can get on," offers Luck.