TTI Teams with Sorbis to Provide One-Stop-Shop

Will provide wireless laptop connectivity and lobby business center

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. October 14, 2008

NEW YORK, NY, February 12, 2007. Hotel guests who have benefited from the comprehensive lobby business center services provided to them through Telephone Technologies Inc. (TTI) also can now benefit from a property-wide wireless network for laptop connectivity. TTI, the provider of self-service business centers, Internet kiosks, boarding pass kiosks, virtual concierge and other guest-service technologies to hotels for more than 17 years has recently teamed with Sorbis Communications (www.sorbis.com) to provide back-end wireless networking.

Founded in 1998, Sorbis is a consulting and network integration group that delivers quality IT service and solutions to hotels in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia. The company provides needed resources for strategic planning, needs assessment, networking management, support services and Internet/intranet development.

"Sorbis came highly recommended to us from among NY-area hotels as a solid partner to provide back-end wireless support to our customers," said Steven Blidner, TTI President. "Like TTI, Sorbis can provide as much or as little as a hotel requires, from installing a complete virtual private network or adding one or multiple hot spots throughout the property. Sorbis will first meet with hotel management to understand its needs, both from an infrastructure and financial standpoint, and make recommendations accordingly. Whether a hotel decides to participate in a Profit Share or Purchase model, they are guaranteed 24/7 service and support."

Gene August, President of Sorbis, said there is a definite need for outsourced IT consulting and networking services. "Many smaller hotels don't have the internal staff or the financial resources to maintain a hard-wired or wireless network environment," August said. "Sorbis can act as the hotel's IT department to support all network issues, whether used for guests only or for the hotels' own business services. We are delighted to be in partnership with TTI, and look forward to not only supporting their customers but also promoting TTI self-service business centers to our hotel customers which may be looking for a lobby business center solution," he said. "Not all guests carry a laptop, and in those scenarios, TTI provides top-of-the-line services that today's guests have come to expect."

TTI self-service business center workstations feature: High-speed Dell computers with Pentium processors, Dell 17-inch flat screen monitors, Dell Laser Printer, credit-card readers (optional bill readers are available), smart media readers, CD Burner, USB port for memory sticks and other devices, laptop ports, Skype international Internet calling connectivity, and Lexmark multifunction machine.

Hotels Hail Partnership

The Belvedere Hotel (www.hotelbelvederenewyorkcom), located in the Broadway theatre district of Manhattan, has an excellent relationship with both TTI and Sorbis. First called upon to install wireless networking for the 400-room property, Sorbis now serves as the outsourced IT support vendor for all computer systems throughout the hotel. Likewise TTI provides a self-service lobby business centers for guests traveling without laptops.

Mike Link, Belvedere Hotel general manager, said he is pleased with the service provided through both companies, noting that: "Calls are answered promptly and professionally and issues are handled with a sense of urgency. Laptops are becoming more and more popular with travelers, enabling them to check e-mail and surf the web while away from home."

Therefore providing a wireless network for travelers is more critical today than ever before. Now that laptops come equipped with internal wireless cards, it's easy for everyone to stay connected upon demand. "That said, we do realize that not everyone travels with a laptop," he said. "Through our new partnership with TTI, we now feature a self-service business center that can be used by anyone requiring any who do not otherwise have access through laptops or cell phones. TTI enables us to offer telephones, phone cards, an ATM, computers and a printer in the business center which is located just off the main lobby.

The computers can be used for checking e-mail or browsing the Internet. Files can be accessed via a memory stick or disk drives. Computers are accessed by providing a credit card for payment and the guest is charged on a per-minute usage."

Ninfa Lemache-Lopes, controller for the Gershwin Hotel (www.gershwinhotel.com) in midtown Manhattan, said the eclectic hotel has been in partnership with TTI since 1999, and has since implemented a wireless network through Sorbis in 2006. "TTI recommended Sorbis when they learned we were looking to add a wireless network," Lemache-Lopes said. "While our guests were very happy accessing the Internet through our lobby business centers, we also engaged new business travelers who said they preferred access to the internet from the privacy of their rooms - and they wanted that access to be wireless.

"Today through our partnership with both TTI and Sorbis, we can provide guests with easy access to local information and emails both in-room and from our two Internet kiosks set up on the 2nd floor of the hotel. We also recently installed a Skype phone that allows guest to make free calls to other Skype users and even to landline phones if they have the proper account status. Together TTI and Sorbis support our needs above and beyond what we would expect," she said. "It is a real pleasure to know that we have this type of affordable, efficient 24/7 support."

TTI also has a joint-marketing relationship with PrinterOn's Guest Printing Service (www.printeron.net), which lets travelers print remotely and securely from their rooms, the road, a meeting or en route to the hotel and pick up their documents securely and privately from a central printing location, such as the business center or the front desk. The Sorbis wireless network supports the PrinterOn environment, Blidner said. "Document printing has become a big challenge for guests, since most business centers don't have the drivers needed to support guest printing," he said. "Through the TTI/Sorbis partnership with PrinterOn, guests staying at a hotel with a TTI business center or Internet kiosk or with a Sorbis wireless network, will not only be able to print documents from anywhere, anytime - but they can do so at absolutely no charge."