Feature Story

July 13, 2006

The Hawthorne Inn & Conference Center is located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and features 155 guest rooms on seven floors and 10,000 square feet in conference facilities. As part of the nearby Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, its 85 employees serve the needs of visiting medical and research professionals and patient families, as well as the general public.

Hawthorne Inn management noted that increasing numbers of hotel guests and conference center clientele expected wireless technology to be available in the hotel and conference areas. With the demand for access growing, the hotel's IT staff was often scrambling to provide guests with Internet access.

"Without wireless access technology in place we were hooking people up to the Internet with a cable on a daily basis," says Jeff Jones, food and beverage manager of the Hawthorne Inn and Conference Center. " Guests checked were constantly asked if we had wireless Internet access. We could see that we were losing business because we did not. We needed to stop apologizing about the lack of access and do something about it."

The hotel's controller asked three companies to post bids for a wireless technology solution that would provide access to all guest rooms and the meeting room facilities at the convention center. One of the respondents was Cisco SMB Select Partner Bald Eagle Technologies. Located in Winston-Salem, Bald Eagle was founded 10 years ago and has become a leading information technology solutions provider to small and medium-sized businesses in its tri-state area of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. With a wireless specialization from Cisco, and engineers on-staff who have achieved the highly-regarded Cisco CSE and CCNA designation, Bald Eagle is focused on providing wireless solutions for its clients in the legal, finance, architectural, engineering and hospitality industries.

"Working closely with our local Cisco representatives has made us aware of the opportunity for growth in the SMB market," says Brian Giff, director of sales and marketing for Bald Eagle Technologies. "Companies today are looking to have connectivity at a reasonable price and without a lot of hardware, so our wireless business has really grown."

Hawthorne Inn management had met with Bald Eagle years earlier to explore communications options and was initially considering a wireless LAN for the conference rooms. That solution then grew to providing wireless throughout the conference center. The hotel's controller reviewed several bids, and Bald Eagle Technologies was selected for the project due to the relationship the two teams had already established, as well as the networking expertise available on the Bald Eagle staff.

"Besides Bald Eagle Technologies' solid expertise, they were very responsive, answering our questions quickly," says Jones. "The other companies we talked with, it seemed like we had to chase them when we needed answers."

The project started with Bald Eagle sending a Cisco certified network engineer to perform a wireless site survey in order to establish the technical layout of the wireless solution.

"It's critical to take the time to perform necessary due diligence in order to recommend the right solution," says Giff. "Our wireless assessment findings and report were one of the keys to establishing confidence of the Hawthorne Inn and Conference Center."

Based on the wireless site survey, Bald Eagle recommended the proper Cisco WLAN solution that included a Cisco Catalyst 3560 switch, 17 Cisco Aironet Wireless 802.11G IOS Aps, 17 Cisco Aironet Wireless 5.2 DBI ceiling mount antennas, and new data cables. The technical layout prepared by the Bald Eagle engineers also identified where wireless access points needed installed to cover all the guest rooms and common areas including the restaurant.

"The hotel and conference center is a very nice facility, but an older structure, so we had to plan carefully," says Giff. "With the concrete and hard structures we constantly made sure we had the right connectivity to cover the whole facility." The deployment window was also tight, with just a couple of weeks to deploy wireless access and become fully operational in time for a busy holiday weekend.

According to Jones, the deployment itself was quick and trouble free because the Bald Eagle team came in, did their pre-planning, met his deadline, and the solution worked flawlessly. And after the wireless network was deployed, Bald Eagle Technologies would handle any support issues. If a problem with the network arises, Bald Eagle's offices are close and can respond quickly.

"In a situation like the one at Hawthorne, we would only offer a Cisco production solution," says Giff. "We believe in Cisco for a lot of obvious reasons - they are an ideal partner and we get tremendous technical support from them."

The close teamwork between Cisco and Bald Eagle Technology means a full hotel and busy conference center. The IT staff is no longer facilitating each guest request for Internet access by providing cables, troubleshooting connection issues, or dealing with all the nuances of Internet access.

"It is really easy for our guests to access the wireless network," says Jones. "Network performance is important too. For instance, we host banking groups and they need a lot of bandwidth. The wireless access is a big selling point for both hotel guests and conference center clientele."

At the time this project was deployed, in September 2005, it was the largest wireless project Bald Eagle had implemented, so it was especially committed to ensuring all upfront preparation was in order. The responsibilities were laid out carefully so everyone knew what their role was.

"It was a really successful deployment, and since then we have aggressively developed our Cisco relationship," says Giff. "Our local Cisco representatives are active in meeting with us and helping us develop our SMB business, which has grown from 11 to 27 clients just in the last year. So we're also growing our own business, and we're looking to use Cisco products to facilitate our own growth."