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Grand Hyatt Singapore has invested more than S$1 million in an advanced high-speed network that will offer its corporate clients the convenience and sophistication of an "office-away-from-the-office". The new wired and wireless network infrastructure, built with equipment from Cisco Systems, places Grand Hyatt at the leading edge of hotels serving the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) sector.

Featuring new and improved in-room technology and guest service applications, as well as high-tech conferencing capabilities, Grand Hyatt's network will enable hotel guests to access the Internet from anywhere in the hotel. This includes all the guest rooms, public areas such as the restaurants and lobby and even around the swimming pool.

"About 75 per cent of our clientele comprises business travellers and our conference and meeting rooms and facilities are much in demand all year round. Our 'totally wired/totally wireless' infrastructure helps us to present our guests with easy connectivity such as an 'office-away-from-the-office' par excellence" said Willi Martin, General Manager of Grand Hyatt Singapore. "Our clients also expect reliable and secure connections to their corporate networks and to the Internet. Our aim is to exceed their level of service expectation when they come to Singapore and stay at Grand Hyatt Singapore."

"STB is supportive of initiatives by our industry partners to harness the best of technology for the benefit of their customers and guests. I commend the Grand Hyatt Singapore for its efforts to improve its service through innovation, by tapping the use of the latest cutting edge technologies," said Lim Neo Chian, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Tourism Board.

Companies holding events in Grand Hyatt will be able to easily create a private corporate network with optimized security, utilizing a centralized self-service on-site sub- server room. Grand Hyatt is the first hotel to offer this service and it showcases Singapore's leadership in technology innovation for the hospitality industry.

The hotel's conference and meeting facilities are pre-wired with Gigabit-class fibre optic and the latest Category-6 cables and linked to the sub-server room. This allows for quick and efficient set-up and tear-down of the event networks. "Grand Hyatt Singapore has been at the forefront of the meetings, incentives and conferences industry. We are guided by our clients' expectations to provide them with network connectivity equal to that which they enjoy at their own offices," said Mark Kendall, Information Systems Manager at Grand Hyatt Singapore.

In the guest rooms, Grand Hyatt's new "Virtual Butler" will enable its guests to request for any hotel service, such as in-room service, shoe shine, extra towels and check-out time, or make restaurant reservations, through the TV or on their laptop computers via the hotel's Internet portal.

The advanced network will also enhance the productivity of the hotel's staff and systems. By year-end, a new point-of-sale and reservations system will also be implemented that centralizes the databases of all the restaurants in the hotel. Service staff will also be equipped with wireless Pocket PCs. The PDAs will also be used by bell attendants and housekeepers to send and receive jobs via the new I-trax back-of-the-house system. E-learning-based training programs will also be put in place to provide up-to-date and self-paced updates to all staff.

Built using technology from Cisco Systems, the core of Grand Hyatt's network is a Gigabit Ethernet switched network. The high-speed wired and wireless Internet access is provided by inter-touch, a leading provider of such services for business travellers in Asia Pacific and Europe.

"We are impressed by the Grand Hyatt's ability to understand and meet the exacting demands of their customers," said Craig Gledhill, Cisco Systems Managing Director for Singapore. "As a Cisco Powered Mobile Office, Grand Hyatt enables guests to have secure and fast access to vital information via wired or wireless means. It offers mobile professionals an "office anywhere". Grand Hyatt has built a communications platform that sets a new benchmark for the industry while providing a foundation on which they can offer more advanced technologies in the future, such as IP telephony and IP videoconferencing."

"We are proud to be working with Grand Hyatt Singapore. We are confident that the high-speed Internet solution powered by inter-touch will drive incremental business travel and meeting room revenue to the property as well as provide an increased level of satisfaction for their guests," said Matt Mitchell, inter-touch's Chief Operating Officer.

About the Grand Hyatt - There are 209 Hyatt hotels and resorts around the world, which are managed by two separate groups of companies. Subsidiaries of Hyatt International Corporation operate, manage or franchise 88 hotels and resorts in 39 countries, with an additional 16 hotels under development. Hyatt Corporation, a separate company, and its subsidiaries operate, manage, franchise or lease 121 hotels and resorts in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Hyatt is accessible on the Internet at www.hyatt.com.

About Cisco Systems - Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco news and information are available at www.cisco.com. Asia Pacific news and information are available at .

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William Oei
+65-6317-5555
Cisco Systems, Inc.