Triskele Valentine: Wireless Technology

A Little History

Throughout the past few years wireless technology has advanced greatly in relation to the information technology. The concept of wireless technology was developed by Guglielmo Marconi more then a century ago. This inventor was the creator of the radio which was designed back in 1897. Technology has continued to evolve and advance considerably since this.

What is Wireless Technology?

"Wireless is a term used to describe telecommunications in which electromagnetic waves (rather than some form of wire) carrythe signal over part or all of the communication path."

Telecommunications is a term used to describe the communication of information, including text, data, pictures, video, and voice over long distances.

Within the hospitality industry advances in wireless technology seem endless from remote check in services, wi-fi services in each bedroom and scanners to identify guests when they arr

ive. While these advances in technology seem to increase the hospitality industry's profitable and competitive advantage, they don't come without their problems. Dan Philips an industry expert has commented that "many of the applications that are being brought into the hospitality industry are technologies that have been developed outside the hotel industry and are being retro-fit to accommodate the needs of hospitality." Philips believes that this technology is not designed for the hospitality industry and therefore it cannot
accommodate all the different needs of the industry.

There are many forms of wireless technology in use everyday, everywhere in the hospitality industry, some of these include Blue Tooth and Wi-Fi.

Blue Tooth : The name for this technology came from a 10th century Danish King by the name of Harald Blatand, known in English as Harold Bluetooth. This King brought together countries which were at war, these included Denmark, Sweden and Norway. This name was given to the modern technology because Bluetooth was intended to unite several different industries under one standard. Bluetooth is a communications protocol, its purpose is to replace bundles of cables and the hassel of connecting them all together. This technology can replace wires in many places, including, computer mouse, printers, and headphones. There are many benefits associated with bluetooth including its power usage, it was designed to use very small amounts of power for example every transmission on a bluetooth mobile phone uses on average 1 mW of power. In other words blue tooth has almost no effect on the battery life of a mobile phone. This technology is used on a regular basis within the hospitality industry, it allows for ease during the average working day.

Wi-Fi : This technology is widely known for becoming the standard for wireless area networks it enables users from anywhere in the world to go on line, send files photographs or videos, and also interact with friends or colleagues any time day or night. It wasn't until 1999 that Wi-Fi gained recognition among computer users. Previously this technology did not appeal to users because of its lack of speed. There are many benefits associated with this technology, its economic a very affordiable technology, it also gets good range inside it can have a range of 75 to 150 feet and outside it can reach more than 1,000 feet. This is also another technology that is widley used within the hospitality industry.