Plan Your Meetings

Construction on the information superhighway

With the increase of broadband Internet service in public spaces, including hotels and meeting venues, the technology of sending and securing information while it’s transmitted over the Web is more important than ever. iBAHN, a broadband provider that services more than 2,000 hotels and meeting venues worldwide, invested $2 million this year in updating partner hotels’ infrastructures.

“Yesterday’s network infrastructure will not support the bandwidth, and quality of services demands of the future,” said Gregg Hodges, chief operating officer. “Data traveling over the iBAHN network has quadrupled in the past few years.”

Part of the increase in data traffic results from travelers becoming more tech-savvy, using the Internet for sending and receiving video and audio files in addition to checking e-mail.

Hackers also have grown more sophisticated. In response, iBAHN is expanding its Network Operation Center, which monitors networks for viruses and digital attacks that could target hotels. Connectivity within properties is funneled through a Virtual Private Network, which provides secure connections between travelers and their home offices; Wi-Fi access is locked between guest’s laptops and a wireless access point, preventing user-to-user communication and hacker interference. 

As a result of its network upgrades, hotels and venues on iBAHN’s system will have more technological amenities to draw from, including voice over IP (VoIP) telecommunications and videoconference multi-casting capability.