South African ISV Launches Interactive Entertainment ...



“XN Africa’s IES development team have delivered a solution which leverages highly productive and groundbreaking Microsoft technologies to the full.”

Ed Dayan, Chief Technical Officer, Torex Retail Plc

Business Needs

XN Corporation Africa, an independent software vendor (ISV) and an empowered South African provider of technology systems to the hospitality and leisure industries, is launching a groundbreaking interactive entertainment solution (IES) targeted at hotel chains. The company is a subsidiary of London-listed XN Checkout, a market leader of electronic point of sale solutions to the leisure, retail, and hospitality markets. XN Corporation Africa offers hotel operators a fully convergent IES that delivers services such as films and music on demand, broadband Internet connectivity, and round-the-clock access to room service—all delivered through an easy-to-use touch screen.

Gary Davies, IES Divisional Director at XN Corporation Africa, says: “We wanted a system to provide hotels the opportunity to significantly increase their incremental revenue per guest. We designed a system to assist hotel operators with displaying guides to hotel services and menus on screen, thus saving them money on print costs as well as unlocking the potential for third-party advertising, which again increases revenue opportunities.”

XN Corporation, which was acquired in 2005 by leading U.K. retail systems provider Torex Retail Plc, decided to invest in a solution that would combine all services for the hotel guest into one environment. This allows the hotel operator to improve its time management, and thus improve guest service levels, by reducing inefficiencies and wastage.

Finally, XN Corporation decided to configure the solution in such a way as to impose no limitations or restrictions on guest usage. Davies adds: “Many existing IES solutions have a limit on the number of concurrent viewers that can see a movie. We wanted a system that provided genuine movies on demand without restriction so that if every guest wants to watch the same film at the same time that can happen without delay.”

Solution

XN Corporation originally began developing the solution in South Africa using a Linux platform. However, problems soon emerged and costs started to escalate.

Davies says: “We found that the Linux environment was unstable and unreliable. We had a major problem with support and response times from Linux. It became clear that it was not cost effective to work with open source technology given the need to get the solution into the marketplace as soon as possible.”

In the past, XN Checkout’s experience using Microsoft® technologies in another division of its business had been positive. As a result, XN Corporation decided to investigate possible Microsoft alternatives to the Linux solution. It soon discovered that the Microsoft Windows® XP Embedded operating system provided much greater business value.

Windows XP Embedded is a componentised version of Windows XP and delivers a scalable infrastructure for 32-bit connected devices that ensures rich applications and services. Reliability and widely available software resources, such as the Microsoft .NET Framework and development tools like Microsoft Visual C++®, make the solution inexpensive to develop.

For XN Corporation, the Windows-based software environment was particularly cost effective, maximising existing IT resources. Davies explains: “We are about to become a Microsoft Certified Partner and our developers are familiar with the .NET Framework architecture. This runs on any Microsoft operating system, of which [Windows XP Embedded] is a part, and which allows us to complete tasks in weeks not months.”

XN Corporation demonstrated its convergent IES solution for the hotel industry at the ICE Exhibition in London in January 2006, and the company plans to go live with its first customer IES solution in South Africa this year.

Benefits

Working with Microsoft technologies, XN Corporation developed a leading-edge solution for the hospitality industry that it plans to market to leading players in South Africa, including Sun International, Radisson, and Gold Reef City. The launch is the latest in a series of innovations from the XN Checkout group. In November 2005, the company unveiled its Global-Res electronic reservations management solution for hotels.

Other benefits include:

■ Helping hotel operators reduce costs, boost revenues, and deliver an enhanced customer experience to their guests.

■ Low installation and maintenance costs, because numerous communications and entertainment channels are united on a single system.

■ Movies available on demand without having to wait until a particular time for a film to be shown.

■ The ability to change menus or pricing of food and beverages automatically, without the need to print paper menus and price lists.

■ Automated ordering of beverages through touch screens eliminates the need for mini-bars in guest rooms, thereby reducing theft and stock loss.

■ A wide range of opportunities for third-party advertising and service offerings, such as the ability to offer excursions or in-room advertisements.

■ Touch screen is easy to use and reduces the need for handheld remote control devices.

■ CD library gives guests the option to listen to music of their choice.

■ Message function provides the hotel with the ability to communicate individually with guests or to a group of guests.

■ Low-cost scalability promotes a roll out of the solution in multiple languages, including Arabic and Chinese.

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For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit: resources/casestudies

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Partner: XN Corporation Africa

Web Site: xncorp.co.za

Customer Size: 1–99

Country or Region: South Africa

Industry: Hospitality

Customer Profile

XN Corporation Africa, an empowered South African company, specialises in providing solutions for the hospitality industry. With a strong technical and development team in South Africa, it is ideally placed to supply and support the most innovative range of technology available.

Software and Services

■ Products

− Microsoft Windows® XP Embedded

− Microsoft Visual C#® 2005

− Microsoft Visual C++® 2005

■ Technologies

− Microsoft .NET Framework

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