High Availability ISP Design

A pril 17, 2009

Agenda Introduction Current S tate of Guest High-S peed A ccess Proposed S olution

S econdary IS P/Load B alancer B eta S ite Results Impact on Cost Models Provisioning A pproach Potential for PMS A bove Property S upport Marketing A pproach

Introduction A s the importance of reliable guest internet access

increases, many hotels have requested that we provide redundancy for their guest high-speed access system.

Other hotels, with access to low-cost cable systems have requested that we augment their INCS access with a solution that merges INCS with another, low-cost option.

The solution depicted here is meant to augment INCS solutions at L imited S ervice hotels.

Current State of Stay Connected Access Today, we have primarily focused on converged access

solutions from a tier-1 carrier (AT& T). The INCS solution, while it is converged, and provides a quality managed product for voice, OnQ and HS IA , does carry a hefty price tag when used in a high-cap configuration (4.5M-6M). A s the needs of our guests grow, we will continue to see more Focus S ervice hotels expand into this 3-4 T1 configuration.

It is the goal of this project to offer an affordable bandwidth solution for our hotels.

Proposed Solutions S econdary IS P- we will identify a nationwide cable

provider (Time-Warner) to work with us on this project.

Load B alancer- It is proposed that, through a technical evaluation and selection process, we identify a hardware load balancer product to combine the existing INCS access with the cable provider.

Beta Site Selection We have worked with several franchise partners on a beta

program and approach. We have presently installed a beta system at the Chicago-

S kokie property. S o far guest satisfaction scores have been relatively flat

(mid to upper 60s), but comments from the GM have been very positive.

INCS Usage Metrics at a Beta Hotel [Insert first picture here]

Usage on INCS 3.0M Circuit

Augmented INCS Solution at the same hotel [Insert second picture here]

Usage on INCS 3.0M Circuit

Usage on Comcast Circuit

Impact on Cost Models We are still testing to determine the minimum INCS level

we can deploy without affecting PMS and HS IA performance.

The calculations on the next page assume the following:-INCS 1.5 will be sufficient-The LB device costs XXXX(dep. over 2 years)-The cable access is $150 per month-A n additional support fee of $XXX per month

Provisioning Approach- Carrier

A t present, we have selected Time-Warner cable as the preferred provider.

To date we have identified pricing and availability of the cable solutions.

TW will work with Comcast, Cox and other cable providers and act as a service aggregator.

Provisioning Approach- Load Balancer A s of today, we have reviewed RFI responses from 7

vendors. These vendors included Elfiq, Radware, FatPipe and Cisco. We have also performed hotel beta trials using Elfiq and FatPipe devices.

B ased on a feature set comparison of these devices, we will be recommending the adoption of a Cisco product. This product costs less than $XXX per unit, and uses technology we are familiar with.

OnQ Above-Property Integration Introduction- Engineering is working towards an

opportunity to utilize the load balancer device and the cable access as a redundant network connection for property-based products. It is assumed that the primary connection will be via the hotel frame relay or INCS access.

PMS Connection- Current Topology

PMS data flow in Blue. Single connection to data center

PMS Connection- with Redundancy

PMS data flow in Blue. When primary drops, flow goes to cable modem via VPN.

This solution is still under development. The equipment being deployed will support the requirement.

Marketing Approach Overall, this solution should sell itself. There is a lot of

buzz in the industry right now regarding load balanced HS IA . Our company would be seen as innovative in adopting a strategy that encompasses low-cost cable solutions.

Network Engineering will manage the relationship between the cable provider and the property. We will be customer of record.