SANTA BARBARA, Calif./ MGM Grand Hotel/Casino -- The City of Entertainment in Las Vegas -- has formed a partnership with IBM, InfoGenesis and Symbol Technologies to implement a unique, customer service-driven wireless point-of-sale (POS) application in retail areas where standard networking poses cabling difficulties.

Since 1996, MGM Grand has used the InfoGenesis Retail POS application, running on 45 IBM 4694 POS terminals, to ring up sales at the property's diverse range of retail outlets. When MGM was ready to provide retail purchasing at the pool area and on the casino floor, the company once again turned to InfoGenesis and IBM to provide a solution.

Adding POS to the pool and casino areas posed a networking challenge: When MGM Grand's cabling was originally installed, the pool area was not part of the networking plan, and the casino floor had maximized the area's network capability. After extensive evaluation of their networking options, MGM Grand discovered it was more cost-efficient to implement wireless than to add network cabling to the pool area or casino floor.

Symbol Technologies, a leader in wireless products and systems integration, worked with MGM Grand to recommend the best wireless networking solution. MGM Grand made a strategic decision to use Symbol's Spectrum24 LAN, a high-performance wireless LAN that offers a commitment to open standards for easy installation, high throughput and superior interference immunity.

"The Symbol Spectrum24 wireless local area network is the ideal solution, especially where running cable is cost prohibitive or not practical," said John Harker, director hospitality and gaming, Symbol Technologies.

Symbol's Spectrum24 Access Points will be strategically placed in the property to create a wireless Ethernet bridge between the host computer network and the IBM 4694 POS terminals running the InfoGenesis Retail POS application.

"We chose IBM, InfoGenesis and Symbol for their commitment to the gaming industry and their flexibility in working with customers to achieve a common goal," said Steve Hoffman, manager of retail services & development at MGM Grand.

MGM Grand Inc. is an entertainment, hotel and gaming company with headquarters in Las Vegas. The company operates the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas, the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino in Darwin, Australia and owns a 50 percent interest in the New York-New York Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas.

IBM's Global Travel and Transportation Industry Solutions Unit provides a broad range of products, services and integrated solutions to all segments of travel and transportation, including hotels, casinos and other travel-related services, airlines, railroads and freight logistics.

IBM also provides a wide range of wireless services through its Mobile and Wireless Services Center including deployment, network management, user and management support. More information can be found at www.ibm.com/travel.

Symbol Technologies is a global leader in mobile computing and communications systems with innovative customer solutions based on wireless local area networking for data and voice communications, application-specific mobile computing and bar code data capture. Symbol's wireless LAN solutions are installed at more than 30,000 customer locations worldwide and support more than 6 million Symbol scanners and hand-held computers.

Symbol provides point-of-activity computing solutions for retailing, transportation and distribution logistics; parcel and postal delivery; health care; manufacturing; and other industries. Information is available from Symbol at 800/722-6234 and at www.symbol.com.

InfoGenesis is a leading developer and marketer of point-of-sale systems for the hospitality and food service industries. InfoGenesis customers are located throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia, and include Starwood Lodging, New York-New York Casino, Hilton Gaming, Excalibur Casino, Six Flags Theme Parks and Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.

InfoGenesis can be reached at www.infogenesis.com.

Maureen Sullivan
805/681-8600, ext. 415