LodgeNet Helping Hoteliers Make the Most of Their IP Dollars With Bandwidth Aggregation Solutions

SIOUX FALLS, S.D., June 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Between meeting groups and individuals traveling for business or leisure, hotels can expect their bandwidth demands to only increase in the future. Since the beginning of this year, LodgeNet has helped a broad range of hotels cost effectively increase their available bandwidth through bandwidth aggregation solutions.    

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Bandwidth aggregation involves maximizing the effective bandwidth of a hotel's wide area network (WAN) by using advanced, intelligent technologies to combine multiple Internet connections and dynamically balance traffic across those connections. LodgeNet is partnering with two leaders, FatPipe Networks and Velocity, in the field of bandwidth aggregation.

Velocity's "Total Solution" provides and aggregates disparate networks (DSL, cable, T1, etc.) with its signature product, VBand. "Total Solution" incorporates V-Select, Velocity's On-Line Interactive Portal for Bandwidth, Ping, SLA and "Network-at-a-glance" reporting, to name a few, as well as trouble tickets and billing, all without any capital expenditure. FatPipe Networks offers its proprietary, hardware based router clustering technology under a purchase model. With either solution, hoteliers can enjoy these benefits:

• Redundancy.  If one connection fails, another capable connection is live and available to keep guests connected and productive while they're on the road.
• Bandwidth availability.  Fully leveraging the capability of all available circuits results in increased available capacity for guests who need it.

"Bandwidth costs are settling down, but the need for additional capacity in the short term – along with redundancy and failover capabilities – make bandwidth aggregation an excellent strategy for cost conscious hoteliers," said David M. Bankers, Senior Vice President Product & Technology Development for LodgeNet. "Working with FatPipe Networks and Velocity, we have the flexibility to offer hoteliers a tested and proven solution, whether they prefer a purchase or lease model."

LodgeNet invites attendees of the upcoming HITEC 2010 trade show in Orlando to visit them at Booth #609, June 22-24.

About LodgeNet

LodgeNet Interactive Corporation is the leading provider of media and connectivity solutions designed to meet the unique needs of hospitality, healthcare and other guest-based businesses. LodgeNet Interactive serves approximately 1.9 million hotel rooms worldwide in addition to healthcare facilities throughout the United States. The Company's services include:  Interactive Television Solutions, Broadband Internet Solutions, Content Solutions, Professional Solutions and Advertising Media Solutions. LodgeNet Interactive Corporation owns and operates businesses under the industry leading brands: LodgeNet, LodgeNetRX, and The Hotel Networks. LodgeNet Interactive is listed on NASDAQ and trades under the symbol LNET. For more information, please visit www.lodgenet.com.

About FatPipe Networks

FatPipe is the creator, inventor and multiple patents holder of router clustering technology. FatPipe provides businesses and government entities the world's most advanced mission critical wide area network (WAN) reliability, redundancy and security appliances that ensures reliability exceeding 99.999988%. FatPipe started shipping its Router-Clustering technology in late 2000, and has steadily grown in size and revenue. FatPipe has been listed on the Inc. 5000 – a listing of the fastest-growing private companies in America – in 2007, 2008, and 2009. FatPipe ranked 36th in 2007 and 35th in 2008 as one of the Top Companies in Security, as listed on the Inc. 5000.

About Velocity

Velocity is committed to exceeding customer expectations and fulfilling customer needs with the highest quality products at the lowest available cost. A financially strong and highly successful company, Velocity has built a staff of communication professionals that includes industry leaders at all corporate levels. The collective expertise of management, sales, technical and support personnel, ensures customized leading-edge products and services of unsurpassed quality and reliability.  

SOURCE LodgeNet Interactive Corporation