ibm

GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN, Guests staying at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers in Gothenburg, Sweden, this Christmas, will find a new computer system in their executive class rooms – a thin client terminal.

Thanks to a commercial trial being carried out in conjunction with IBM, guests will be able to use IBM thin client workstations in their rooms to access the Internet, e-mail and office software applications across a TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol) network infrastructure.

According to officials with Bib Blue's Swedish operation, the "Smart Room " suites have been equipped with an IBM Network Station. Similar units have also been installed in the hotel conference center, as well as in public areas around the hotel.

The Smart Room service was designed by IBM Sweden and its local business partner Digital Services and, like many thin client systems, presents the user with a Web browser interface, through which access to the Web, e-mail and personal office software.

For the office software, which Big Blue refers to as "personal productivity applications," users get access to their own secure personal directory on the hotel's IBM file server. Applications available on the server include word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software.

According to Sheraton officials, before the Smart Room thin client terminals were officially launched this week, business users typically had to resort to using their own laptops in their rooms.

While the hotel has modem phone jacks in many rooms, users have often ended up with extra phone calls on their bills, as well as having to figure out how to best access the Internet in Gothenburg.

As well as reducing the complexity of accessing the net, the Sheraton says that the cost of the thin client rental and usage is included in the Smart Room hire charge.

One of the most interesting aspects of the thin clients is the fact that the engineers have added an advertising medium into the system, with a rolling screen saver on the workstation, as well as allowing users access to an online catalog.

According to Sheraton officials, the unobtrusive advertising service, which was developed by Digital Services, will reach over 30,000 executives per month, and will entirely fund the implementation of its Smart Room service on an ongoing basis.

"Sheraton's Smart Room is a great proposition for online business travellers because it cuts out the headaches of configuring dial-up connections and paying expensive international phone bills," explained Martin Strempel, the hotel's sales manager.

"Being server-based, the system allows us to maintain a clean user interface and also to guarantee superior levels of customer service because we can focus our IT resources more efficiently," he said.

Over at IBM, meanwhile, Pete Jakob, the firm's marketing manager for the EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) region said that the Smart Room service is an example of how a server-based environment allows an enterprise to commercialise its IT resources.

"Like many of our other customers in Europe, the IBM Network Station has allowed Sheraton to open up its computing infrastructure to a new class of user and to enhance the standards of its computing service through consolidation at the server level," he explained.

Pete Jakob (IBM marketing manager for the EMEA)
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