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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 27, 2006 (San Antonio, Texas) - At an awards
ceremony in San Antonio, Texas honoring the most
successful corporate adopters of M2M (machine to
machine/man) technology, The Ambassador Conference
Resort of Kingston, Ontario was awarded Gold in the
Retail/Hospitality category.
The cashless vending system implemented at the
Ambassador allowed guests to either swipe their hotel
room key card through the vending machine's card reader
or use any mobile phone to purchase a variety of
Coca-Cola beverages. Guests had applicable charges
appear on their invoice at final check-out. The wireless
connectivity was based on cStar's easily deployable
wireless LAN technology that eliminates the cost of
running dedicated cables and provides the flexibility in
vending machine locations within hotels.
The Value Chain Awards, chosen by a group of industry
analysts along with editors of M2M Magazine, honor the
most successful adopters of M2M technology and the team
of solution providers that made their success possible.
The award was presented to the Ambassador for
demonstrating the process of combining multiple
technologies to improve operations, reduce costs and
enhance customer service. Results from the 90-day trial
showed 99.9% system reliability, no instances of
attempted vandalism to the vending machines and, most
importantly, extremely positive feedback from the guests
themselves.
"This award is the crowning achievement on what has been
an extraordinary experience for the Ambassador
Conference Resort," commented Venicio Rebelo, General
Manager, Ambassador Conference Resort. "The cashless
vending technology has been a tremendous success both
from a business and customer perspective, and we look
forward to further applying this technology in other
areas."
Stella Yoon, President of cStar Technologies added, "The
M2M Gold Value Chain award in Retail/Hospitality
category is the industry recognition of our innovative
cashless wireless vending solution, Vending Genie
Hospitality, which has delivered tremendous business
values to both the hotel and the vending operator. Due
to the growing enthusiam from all parts of the
hospitality industry, we expect the cashless wireless
vending to be the defacto offering in all hotels."
Bell Canada spearheaded the cashless vending machine
technology trial which was the first in Canada to
combine both mobile phone and key card technologies
operating over a wireless network in the same trial
period. Bell Canada also provided the web hosting and
system integration, which was achievable through
strategic partnerships, industry expertise and
technology collaboration with the following companies:
Bell Canada - Bell Canada is Canada's national
leader in communications with 28 million customer
connections across the country. Bell offers integrated
information and communications technology (ICT) services
to businesses and governments, and is the Virtual Chief
Information Officer (VCIO) to small and medium
businesses (SMBs). Bell is proud to be a Premier
National Partner and the exclusive Communications
Partner to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic
Winter Games. Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. For
information on Bell's products and services, please
visit
www.bell.ca; for
information on BCE, visit
www.bce.ca.
Coca-Cola Bottling Company - Coca-Cola Bottling
Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Coca-Cola
Enterprises, is a recognized leader in innovation for
the beverage industry and is committed to finding new,
progressive solutions to meet the needs of consumers.
cStar Technologies - A global provider of
wireless (LAN/WAN) data communication solutions for M2M
(Machine-to-Machine/Men) and mobile commerce
applications. Protected by multiple patents, its core
solutions include cashless, wireless vending
complemented with remote data management tools and RFID
Invisible Tags for cross-border security management.
www.cstartech.com.
Kaba Ilco Inc. - Kaba Lodging Systems, a member of
the Kaba Group, provides guest and staff access control
at the Ambassador Conference Resort and used its new
ATLAS web based system to interface with the RSI
property management system, remotely hosted 3,000 miles
away.
www.kabalodging.com
RSI International Systems Inc. - RSI
International Systems Inc. - RSI web-based Property
Management Solution RoomKey(tm) handles the vending
transaction from credit authorization to transaction
billing to hotel guest's room folio.
www.welcometorsi.com.
The Cashless Vending System continues in operation at
the Ambassador Conference Resort delivering the new
found values to the hotel and to Coca-Cola Bottling
Company.
More information on cStar's cashless wireless vending
solution, Vending Genie™ Hospitality:
Stella Yoon - cStar Technologies, Inc.
(416) 739-8484 Ext 111
For more information on the Value Chain Awards:
http://www.specialtypub.com/article.asp?article_id=3657&SECTION=3
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