Increased Interest Wi-Fi Hotspots from Middle
Eastern Markets Generates Product Sales for Aptilo

    Intercontinental hotels in Beirut, the operator Awalnet in Saudi Arabia and a number of partners in the United Arab Emirates have all opted over a short time to go with the Aptilo solution for public zones for wireless Internet access. This has given Aptilo Networks a fantastic foothold also in the Middle East just a week after announcing a major deal in Malaysia.

    Aptilo's partner in Lebanon, WorldNet, recently closed a deal with Intercontinental hotels Phoenicia and Le Vendome. The Phoenicia hotel in central Beirut will be the chain's first hotel in the region to offer a hotspot solution. With more than 450 rooms, this hotel is one of the biggest, most elegant in Lebanon, specialising in both comfort and technology.

    "To implement a hot spot system for a customer like Intercontinental requires a thorough review of available vendors and technologies. The hotel guests expect only the best, so the system needs to be robust and easy to use and manage. We have conducted a lot of tests and the conclusion was that the Aptilo solution was superior considering the richness of features and proven stability", says Safwan H. Kazma, Operations Manager at WorldNet.

    "We have had a lot of hotels as clients for some time now, but Intercontinental in Beirut is the biggest to date, and of course this is a prestigious client for us. We hope that this will lead to more hotel chains realising the benefits of being able to offer their guests operator-independent Internet access," says Jan Sjönell, Marketing Manager at Aptilo.

    Aptilo Networks has closed a number of new deals in the Middle East in a short time, thus allowing it access to a new market. The company was already established in Europe and Asia.

    In Saudi Arabia, Aptilo has entered into a contract with operator Awalnet, which already works with clients such as Holiday Inn and Starbucks.

    "We have received some very positive responses when demonstrating the Aptilo solution to our clients here in Saudi Arabia. The clients who already using it is very satisfied with the solution. We believe our list of clients will grow quickly," says Mahmod Soubra, Director of Marketing and Business Development at Awalnet.

    In the United Arab Emirates, Aptilo works together with companies such as HP and has placed test systems with a number of clients. The solution has received Centrino accreditation from Intel in both the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.

    "Aptilo's Wireless Hot spot solution running at several Middle East Providers works flawlessly with Intel's Centrino Mobile technology equipped notebooks; Using Aptilo these operators passed our Wireless Verification test thus contributing significantly to the growth of the WI FI market," says Toni Prince, Business Development Manager Telecomms & ISPs, Intel

    Besides this accreditation and lots of satisfied clients, the flexibility of the Aptilo solution also has a great part to play when new clients are making up their minds on what product to buy. This solution allows clients to use lots of different payment methods; cash, credit cards, integrated with the hotels' invoicing systems or linked to a telephone subscription. As this solution is operator-independent, each location can opt to sell online time according to what users want.

By Robert Hoskins

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