OnSat.net Canada Inc. ("OnSat")(CDNX:ONS.CX) announces that it has completed a Joint Venture Agreement (the "Joint Venture'") with Corporations At Work Technologies Inc, ("C@W") to be named OnSat Hospitality Joint Venture Ltd. ("ONH") to provide wireless broadband services including high speed Internet access to the hospitality industry.
The Joint Venture plans to install the system in 250 hotels during the first year of operation.
Avaya's national sales force is co-marketing the ONH products and services and expects significant market penetration in the billion-dollar North American hospitality industry.
The purpose of the Joint Venture is to provide wireless broadband services, movies on demand, long distance telephony and other similar services on a mutually exclusive basis. The Joint Venture will be extended to other areas outside of Canada.
OnSat will operate its equal ownership in the Joint Venture through its wholly owned subsidiary, OnSat Hospitality Inc. The Joint Venture will use Avaya wireless systems and OnSat's private, satellite-based Digital Equity Network(R) that will combine into a complementary wireless solution for the hotel industry.
This will allow hotel guests to have high-speed Internet access from anywhere in the hotel by plugging an Avaya Wireless PC card into their laptops or PDA's. The Avaya Wireless PC cards can be configured with each guest's personalized information to ensure guest security in the event of lost or stolen cards and eliminate the need to change office/network settings for each user. Billing software will provide the hotel with accounting records that allow usage to be tracked and billed for each client.
C@W and OnSat have fully tested their wireless solution in an operational pilot project located in Penticton, British Columbia since June of 2000. Dan Hidlebaugh, President of C@W notes, "the system has proven to be extremely robust with no failures since installation. Installation of the log-on software, which is compatible with all Wi-Fi compliant transceiver cards, is extremely fast and simple. Our network at the Penticton Lakeside Resort and the Penticton Conference Center have proven themselves to be functional, and are already resulting in increased revenue for both venues through increased meeting room bookings."
"We are excited to be working with OnSat to deliver high-speed, wireless access to the Internet to meet the needs of business travelers and mobile workers who need to stay connected while away from the office," said Kelly Dudra, Regional Account Executive - Data West, Avaya Canada. "Avaya's Access Server public gateway, combined with OnSat's Digital Equity Network(R) satellite-based system, provides a multiple-user environment such as a hotel with the capabilities to offer guests with the convenience of unlimited access to a network in a secure, high-speed environment."
The close relationship with Avaya and its national sales force completes a team that has the expertise and innovation to provide a solution for mobile workers including hotel guests. The new hotel system has continually impressed visitors with its unobtrusive and highly functional operation. In the privacy of hotel suites, in public areas and meeting rooms or in the outdoor restaurants hotel guests enjoy high-speed Internet connectivity up to 11 Mbps. Since the OnSat satellite technology will provide true broadband access, hotel guests will he provided with a library of more than 500 in-room movie titles through a variety of technologies, including proprietary set-top boxes in the guests' rooms.
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