Concluding yet another successful large scale project in the Middle East hospitality sector, Reichle & De-Massari (R&M), the globally active Swiss developer and provider of cabling systems for high-end powerful network infrastructures has deployed its latest structured cabling solutions at Kempinski, Al Mouj Muscat, a five-star property in the Al Mouj Muscat waterfront development. The hotel will be able to leverage this network infrastructure for all its IT functions including high-speed data and voice connectivity for guests, IPTV, as well as video surveillance and security access systems.
At the time of its completion in 2016, Kempinski, Al Mouj Muscat will have 310 rooms, 77 branded residences, ten restaurants, a ballroom that can accommodate more than 750 people and luxury spa facilities at its evocative beachfront location. It will also have a beach club with recreational and health facilities including tennis courts, a spa and swimming pools, a six lane bowling alley, male and female hair salon and various luxury F&B outlets.
R&M’s involvement in the project began when Mustafa Sultan Telecommunication Co. LLC., one of the market leaders in Oman for ICT and converged networking solutions, was employed as a contractor. The Swiss cabling specialist's position as a well-established brand globally and in Oman, and its reputation as a leading provider of powerful and reliable communication networks led to its selection. “The hotel was determined to utilize the very best solutions that could meet its performance requirements of the property for the foreseeable future. With internet connectivity now a vital factor in the positive experience and satisfaction of hotel guests, they also needed a solution that was highly reliable, could eliminate network downtime and lower maintenance efforts and cost,” said Sushil M. Jani, General Manager at Mustafa Sultan Telecommunications Co. L.L.C.
Its strong local presence in Oman allowed R&M to be deeply involved in the project from the outset. The cabling vendor’s top technical resources helped design and optimize the hotel’s network in order to maximize utility and performance while addressing budget constraints. Also, R&M’s investments into a streamlined supply chain for the region, which includes its fully equipped production facilities in Dubai and Saudi Arabia enabled rapid manufacture and delivery of the cabling solutions required for the deployment.
For the highest quality and performance R&M’s proprietary Cat.6 UTP connectivity technology was used, enabling up to 1Gbe connectivity for up to 100 meters along with 10GbE connectivity for up to 50 meters. These cables were terminated by R&M’s RJ45 connectors as the reliability and security of these components make them well suited to the demands of higher bandwidths and transmitting larger amounts of time-sensitive data. “A significant part of network failures is caused by bad cabling and each failure entails enormous downtime costs. Reliability and security of components should never be neglected which is why R&M continues to innovate and improve its solutions,” said Samuel Godfrey, Sales Manager, Oman at R&M Middle East, Turkey and Africa.
R&M also offered Kempinski the benefits of Power over Ethernet (PoE) as its cabling solutions met the latest PoE standards. This has enabled the infrastructure to support many devices in that resort premises, including IP Cameras with Pan/Tilt/Zoom functions, VOIP video phones, POS Terminals, and Wireless Access Points. Here R&M’s good contact design ensured that any damage occurring due to PoE sparks would not affect the contact zone.
To maintain consistency in aesthetics, customization of the cabling solution was also a requirement of the hotel. “It was of high importance for the hotel that the various contractors match architect designed faceplates for power, voice, data, security, and TV,” said Prashant Rozario, Business Unit Head - Projects at Mustafa Sultan Telecommunications Co. L.L.C. With its wide portfolio of highly customizable outlets which offer compatibility with the systems of leading third-party suppliers, R&M was capable of delivering on this requirement as well. The cabling vendor also provided suitable adapters to ensure compatibility.
The high-speed fiber backbone was implemented with R&M’s UniRack family of high-quality patch panels and R&M OS2 cabling which satisfies the toughest requirements for all single-mode applications of up to 100 Gigabit/s and complies with the ISO/IEC 11801 standard. The decision to utilize single-mode fiber was driven by its ability to meet current and future throughput requirements, which will enable the hotel to have 1Gbps, 10Gbps and even 40Gbps if needed, thus future-proofing the implementation. Furthermore, as the entire installation was expertly handled by Mustafa Sultan Telecommunication Co. LLC, an R&M qualified partner, the deployment has been certified and granted a 25-year systems warranty.
Commenting on the value that R&M delivered to the project, Prashant Rozario said, “R&M offered our customer a number of very attractive competitive advantages like presence and support of an expertly qualified local team, reputed Swiss quality products, 25-year system warranty, excellent design consultancy and last but not least, highly competitive pricing.”
“This project was a demonstration of the quality, support, technical expertise and supply chain efficiency that has made R&M a leader in the global and local cabling markets. We are very happy to add another big name brand to our impressive list of references in the hospitality industry,” concluded Samuel Godfrey.