INNCOM Showcases Ethernet-Based High-Speed Communications & Energy Management Platform at HITEC

June 28, 2002

Starwood and Six Continents install INNweb™ at select properties

Niantic, Conn. —June 28, 2002— INNCOM international showcased its INNweb™ system, a complete Ethernet-based energy management and high-speed communications platform for guestrooms, at the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition & Conference, June 25 – 27 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

The INNCOM INNweb™ system utilizes a standard Ethernet or DSL backbone to provide centrally controlled energy management, occupancy reporting, central electronic lock control and other valuable management tools. At the same time, INNweb™ creates an infrastructure that can be used for the full range of broadband services, including high-speed Internet access, digital video-on-demand, Voice Over Internet Protocol phones and IP radio.

The INNweb™ system has recently been installed at Starwood's Westin Stamford in Connecticut, and is in the process of being installed at the Crowne Plaza in Redondo Beach, California, a Six Continents' property. INNCOM systems are also installed at several other Six Continents and Starwood properties.

Duane Buckingham, president and CEO of INNCOM, said, “We strongly believe that INNweb™ has the potential to revolutionize the way in which services are delivered to guestrooms. Essentially, we create a high-speed pipeline to guestrooms that can be cost justified by energy savings and multiple operating benefits. This in turn provides a powerful broadband highway on which high-speed Internet traffic or any other Ethernet-compatible service can simultaneously be deployed. The cost savings in this shared environment can be significant.”

Ludwig Scherdel, senior director of engineering for Atlanta-based Six Continents Hotels, said the brand chose INNweb™ for several of its new build properties because of its electrical-demand control and high-speed Internet access applications.

“We are very pleased with the performance of INNCOM’s technology,” Scherdel said. “The quality and user-friendliness of INNweb™ made it the system for our new build hotels. We believe it will have a significant impact on the services we can provide to our guests.”

Three times the communication

Designed specifically for the lodging industry, the INNCOM MBX is the heart of the system and has three functional sides. On one side, it communicates over the Ethernet backbone with INNCOM smart thermostats, laptops and other devices in guestrooms. On another it exchanges occupancy information, HVAC status and other data with the hotel’s property management and building automation systems. And on the third side, it connects to the Internet through a standard T1 router. The entire system is then accessible on the Web through INNweb™ server software developed by INNCOM.

“INNweb™ is a great example of creating incremental profit margin by leveraging multiple uses of infrastructure investment,” said Mark G. Haley of The Prism Partnership, a hospitality technology consulting firm headquartered in Boston. “INNCOM has executed a sound product strategy to better serve their hotel clients with a single, standards-based platform supporting many service enhancing, revenue increasing or cost reducing applications. The market should reward this carefully developed strategy.”

William Sullivan, chief operating officer of Wilmington, DE-based ProfitsPlease Consultants, concurred.

“INNCOM’s INNweb™ product is very timely,” Sullivan said. “More properties are moving towards an integrated applications environment, and this product represents the next generation of application technology. If a hotel is to be successful today, it must deploy technology that is based on a more integrated architecture that requires less vendor interaction and fewer interfaces.”

Rick Quirino, executive vice president, marketing and operations for INNCOM, said the company had been studying various business models for integrating guestroom control communications with the delivery of high-speed Internet access and other services for several years. Once the company was confident that it had the right formula, its R&D staff took over and delivered a quality, finished product in record time.

Property deployment

“Starwood has selected INNCOM’s technology because of its advanced energy management features, its advanced guest comfort features and its ability to utilize Starwood’s broadband Ethernet technology,” said Gus Newbury, VP of Engineering for Phoenix-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts. “We believe in this technology, so we are not taking a wait-and-see approach to deploy it at our other Starwood hotels. Instead, we are marching forward to give select properties the energy-management solutions they need to operate more efficiently.”

Newbury said Starwood’s Westin Stanford hotel in Connecticut is the first in a series of hotels that will deploy INNweb™ and other INNCOM technologies based on property energy-management requirements.

"The concept and value of a shared Ethernet backbone in hotels that accommodates both broadband services and guestroom control functionality is common sense,” Buckingham said. “We are pleased and highly encouraged by our discussions and progress with Starwood, Six Continents, Mandarin Oriental and other key players in the global lodging industry toward making INNweb™ a smashing success. We are fully confident that it will greatly benefit hoteliers and their guests -- and frankly, contribute toward keeping U.S. technology at the leading edge."

INNCOM has patents pending on the INNweb™ technology.

About INNCOM international, inc.

Based in Niantic, Conn., INNCOM International, Inc. is a global leader in guestroom control systems. Since 1986, INNCOM has pioneered the development of systems that integrate energy management with the control of electronic locks, lighting, drapes, TV’s, telephones, and other guestroom appliances. Many of these systems are based on the company’s patented infrared technology and link operating systems such as the PBX, PMS and POS to management and support staff and the outside world — helping hotels capture additional operating efficiencies and deliver superior guest experiences.

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