Resort in Maldives implements Furukawa optical technology solution with focus on customer experience

The complex in the heart of the Indian Ocean offers high-speed comfort and connectivity through the Laserway solution

A small private paradise in the Maldives with high-speed connectivity during the 365 days of the year. This is a small portrait of a modern, elegant, and tropical resort in the Indian Ocean: Fun Island Resort & Spa.

The complex, which is part of the renowned Villa Hotels group, is committed to the customer experience by delivering the best in technological solutions for the implementation of a high-speed internet network. This is carefully thought out to serve with excellence all the elegant villas of the complex, which receives tourists of all nationalities throughout the year.

The implementation of Furukawa's Laserway optical technology – with high-speed connectivity – was important to ensure two fundamental pillars for Villa Hotels: customer experience and cost reduction.

"We have over 150 beach villas on Fun Island. A traditional LAN network would be impractical due to the high cost and lack of range over longer distances. That's why we decided to opt for GPON technology," says Mr. Ali Hammad, Chief Technology Officer of the Villa Hotels group. This solution, in addition to ensuring greater competitiveness in relation to implementation costs, prioritizes an even more satisfactory customer experience to the thousands of tourists who visit the complex annually.

"Technology has improved customer experiences as well as IT services. Now, our guest can enjoy all their favorite shows in HD while staying with us." Hammad reinforces. This is a paradigm breaker for many who believe that by staying in secluded paradises around the globe, they need to give up high speed connectivity altogether. At the Villa Hotels complex, clients have access to triple-play service - which guarantees telephony, data, and multimedia in a single connectivity channel. This is made possible by the advantages of implementing Furukawa's Laserway optical technology, "a cost-effective solution that can provide long-distance data transmission over 100 meters, unlike traditional LAN," says the hotel group's Director of Technology.

The logistic and maintenance work was also fundamental for the decision to implement this technology, due to the natural difficulties imposed by the geographical isolation of the complex. This, because the Laserway solution is a network that will last more than25 years, without the need for constant maintenance. In other words: the solution offers a 5 times longer durability over copper solutions, which require cabling change every 5 or 7 years. This factor also influenced the performance and performance of connectivity in the complex. "Since adapting to new technology, we have never had a major problem or any downtime.", says Hammad.

Although the IT team of the Villa Hotels group was already trained and accustomed to the GPON solution, Furukawa always ensures the implementation of Laserway technology in an agile, accurate and efficient manner, helping customers to make full use of the available resources. Therefore, all support is provided by our team of specialized engineers, at all stages of the project: from network design and product specification to the implementation and operation of the system. This includes Furukawa's 24x7 Premium support service, which guarantees support of any kind, at any time, every day of the year.

In addition to the benefits of connection and Premium support, Furukawa's Laserway technology "is a scalable and future-ready solution aimed at expanding the Villa Hotels group in the coming years," concludes Mr. Ali Hammad.

Furukawa Electric Group

Japanese company with more than 120 subsidiaries and modern research laboratories all over the world, Furukawa Electric Group is prepared to generate new technologies and products with the highest quality in the market for a more connected world. Furukawa provides innovative infrastructure for communication networks. Furukawa Electric's solutions were designed to offer high reliability thus reducing operating costs and increasing profit margins. Furukawa Connectivity System presents complete solutions from the equipment room up to the work area, providing indoor and outdoor cables and accessories, including GPON equipment while the broadband solutions portfolio presents complete solutions from the central office up to the subscriber's home.

Media Contact

Alexandre Schappo

EMEA SEA Engineering Manager [email protected] +55 41 3341-7316

Technology Technology Operations & Strategy Asia Pacific Maldives

Japanese company with more than 120 subsidiaries and modern research laboratories all over the world, Furukawa Electric Group is prepared to generate new technologies and products with the highest quality in the market for a more connected world. Furukawa provides innovative infrastructure for communication networks.