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Optaros helped Swisscom Hospitality Services to implement and operate a unique web 2.0 experience for hotel guests in more than 2,300 hotels – the solution was delivered in an aggressive time frame using assembled web services and open source components

Boston (US), Geneva, Zurich (Switzerland) and Munich (Germany) — April 25, 2007 — Optaros Inc., an assembler of Next Generation Internet (NGI) applications, helped Swisscom Hospitality Services to implement and launch Room 2.0TM,the first Internet service responding to the needs of business travelers at their hotel room through a tailored set of web 2.0-based information and communication services. The solution was implemented in an aggressive time frame leveraging a large range of internet based services and open source components.

Room 2.0^TM features a landing page and portal a hotel guest automatically accesses when hooking up to the hotel network. From there, he can easily navigate a range of customized services, which are available on top of unlimited data downloads and priority bandwidth. The “Stay in touch” service module allows guests to make unlimited long-distance phone calls, while “Explore” features location-based information about points of interest in the hotel’s surroundings. To help guests fully “Enjoy” their stay, Room 2.0TM enables them to download their home newspaper (more than 350 publications available) and to listen to one of their preferred radio stations (among a choice of 8,000). Finally, the “Streamline your Journey” service module brings real-time flight information to the fingertips of the traveler. All services are available through an advertising-free web interface and included in the premium package.

Optaros assembled Swisscom Hospitality Services (SHS) Room 2.0^TM dramatically faster and in a more flexible way than any other known approach. OptAM (Optaros Assembly Method) is enabling companies to bring unique, customer-facing internet solutions to the market and respond flexibly to the constantly increasing customer needs and possibilities of the world wide web.

“Optaros quickly and efficiently assembled a complete, customer-centric solution from a large number of separate services and components into a highly reliable, scalable application. Our customers will love the seamless user experience.“ says SHS CEO Christian Petit. “With the flexibility of the Optaros Assembly Methodology (OptAM) we plan to continually enhance and add more advanced functionality based on the collective intelligence of our customer base“.

The Room 2.0^TM integrated assembly is based fully on open source technologies supporting a continuous integration process. AJAX is extensively used at the front-end ensuring a highly interactive user interface. By jointly optimizing the user experience and technical architecture, Optaros has created a seamless experience for Room 2.0TM users.

“Room 2.0^TM is a prime example of why Assembly is the best approach to deliver and evolve Web 2.0 solutions,” said Frederic Weill, Managing Director Europe of Optaros. “Optaros and Swisscom are working together to create a fully realized online service offering for thousands of world travelers.”

About Swisscom Hospitality Services
Swisscom operates a broadband Internet access network in its partner hotels across Europe and North America under its hospitality-focused subsidiary Hospitality Services Plus S.A., spanning more than 2.300 active properties and encompassing 200.000 hotel rooms. Additionally, the company supports close to 10’000 events annually on a global basis. This makes Swisscom a leading provider of broadband Internet-based services to the hospitality industry: Swisscom services are available in well-known hotel chains such as Hyatt, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Intercontinental, Marriot, and NH.
http://www.swisscom.com/hospitality/index.php/internet/en

About Optaros
Optaros assembles fully supported, unique Next Generation Internet (NGI) solutions faster and more flexibly than traditional build, buy or rent options. We are the first company to deliver on the ultimate promise of a Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) – differentiated software solutions with swappable core components. We deliver on that promise with our Optaros Assembly Methodology (OptAM) that assembles user-centric applications leveraging open source components and our global collaborative development. We work hard to deliver what we say to our growing list of more than 70 clients in the US and Europe. Our clients determine our success and 98% of them will return your phone call and tell you how we are assembling their future. For more about Optaros, go to www.optaros.com.

Full press release on optaros.com

The last couple of laptops I have tried to find the perfect tool setup with–if required–the right accessories to make it even better. There are a couple of sleek notebooks out there than come with a power plant rather than a power supply, if you know what I mean. These are not for me. We spend too many hours per day on the job and we charge our clients too many bucks to spend time, money or even our backs’ future to carry around stuff that does not work or not do it’s job in just the perfect way.

My problem was always with the mouse. On my desk I have a proper mouse that I take the time to connect whenever I’m at the office. But for on the road it is useless, because it is huge, has a long cable and therefore never makes it in my bag. I did not manage to find the perfect on-the-road mouse till now, so I’d use my touch pad most of the time and for the occasional presentation my little HP laptop mouse that is ok, but not more. And when it comes to Human Interface Devices, good is definitely not good enough. It has to be very closed to perfect.

I also like to use Bruno’s Kensington Wireless Presenter for pretty obvious reasons.

Now, what I do no like are dongles or how ever you call those little things that you plug into your USB port to connect through proprietary means to some external device via a technology that is already inside the laptop (Bluetooth in this case).

So I was looking for a combination of the Apple remote and the Apple Bluetooth Mightymouse for a Windows PC in a mobile form factor that does not come with a dongle or in other words supports the Bluetooth standard.

Well, here it is: The Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000

It’s a small form factor wireless multi button laser wheel mouse and a wireless presenter (Powerpoint remote control) including laser pointer as well as a general remote to operate media players and any other application that can be operated by keystrokes. It did come with a dongle, but in fact it supports Bluetooth and does work w/o the dongle when connected to any other internal Bluetooth adapter.

It really does what it is supposed to do. No cable, no dongle and connects well also after standby etc. The only little flaw is with the driver included which relies on the proprietary dongle that can not be redirected to my internal dongle. So the additional nice features and driver support for magnifier and instant viewer etc do not work when not using the dongle.

So my impression with this product is in line with my general opinion on Microsoft: they will never really and fully support an (open) standard. They will always take the time and effort to extend it to their own interpretation to force you to use one or more of their products. In this case the limited functionality is still unique and very valuable for me. If they’d come up with a driver package that will not rely on the proprietary dongle, I would actually recommend the product to others. :)

We have conducted a survey and published a new white paper on how companies will be delivering NGI applications.

Today, heightened customer and market expectations for access and interaction are rewriting the rules for how customers leverage the Internet. Customers and prospects no longer want information pushed to them. They’re demanding richer, more interactive experiences that emphasize convenience, simplicity, and completeness. They’re also demanding a greater voice through participation, feedback, and personalized dialogue. It’s a self-reinforcing dynamic. As more organizations deploy Internet applications that enable two-way interaction, market dissatisfaction with one-way online communication increases. What’s more, market expectations for application/service richness and utility increase as well. The following white paper addresses a crucial question facing companies today: How will enterprises respond to these customer demands and competitive threats and deliver the next-generation of Internet applications?

The main conclusions of the white paper are as follows:

• More than 60 percent of enterprises are aware of customer expectations for two-way Internet interactions.
• Only 19 percent give their current online applications high marks for the ability to offer two-way interactions.
• More than 64 percent of companies that have added NGI functionality are achieving positive results.
• Custom development is being chosen by a ratio of 4:1 over off-the-shelf software to deliver NGI functionality.
• Assembling solutions from components is an effective approach to deliver NGI applications.

Get the paper here.

See details on the survey here.

Feedback welcome.