In addition to the new broadcast service, the hotel�s advanced in-room technology is setting new industry standards by featuring systems that are as technologically advanced as they are user-friendly. The hotel offers home theater-style entertainment units with flat screen LCD Samsung televisions and Dolby surround sound speakers in all of the hotels 251 guest rooms and suites.  The hotel�s guestroom technology also integrates the telephone, in-room entertainment, Internet access and administration systems. 

�Our goal is to offer a seamless system combining the most advanced technology while placing emphasis on personalization and ease of use,� said general manager, Rudy Tauscher.  �Today�s travelers are much more technologically sophisticated than in the past. We offer guests the ability to set up their own equipment instantly, but also to take advantage of the very latest technology expressly built-in to our guestrooms and throughout the hotel.� 

About New Live Broadcast Services

In an unprecedented move, Mandarin Oriental, New York invested significant research and effort in the installation of live broadcast capabilities. Upon short notice, plug-and-play broadcast capabilities can be activated to provide live television feeds, video conferencing and web streaming. Because of advanced broadcast cable installations within the Time Warner Center, these options can occur without the need of a satellite truck or the lengthy process of contracting a camera and sound crew.  The Time Warner Center has an on-site control room and a production team available to capture, edit, produce, stream and duplicate feed from as many as 16 different cameras in 16 different locations throughout the hotel.  Hotel guests can book the services to broadcast content ranging from live news casts, filming keynote speakers or capturing wedding nuptials for live web streaming. Family and friends unable to attend the celebration in the ballroom can join in the live festivities via the Internet. In the Presidential Suite, plug-and-play capabilities were installed to accommodate live interviews and other broadcasts transmitted locally or globally.

Additional Technology Highlights

Mandarin Oriental, New York uses IP technology to link the premium entertainment system on the market, Intrigue by General Dynamics Interactive, to the operations system, SMS Host by Springer Miller. Using a Cisco platform, the converged guest services network gives the hotel the ability to provide more options to its system as the need arises, making expansion capabilities limitless. The interlinking of the systems allows operations to run more efficiently. For example, the Rapid Response System, Espresso, interacts with the electronic door lock system, Timelox, to alert In-Room Dining when a guest has entered his/her room as a cue to servers to deliver the hotel�s signature welcome tea service. 

Other technological features at Mandarin Oriental, New York include:

• 97 television channels, including 10 high definition free-to-guest broadcast channels from the major networks including HBO & ESPN (with additional channels to be added as they become available). 

• An extensive digital library of film (new releases, art/foreign films, short programs, documentaries, high definition content), television & music programs as well as video games for X-Box gaming consoles. 

• On-screen options which allow guests to view text and facsimile messages on their LCD televisions and listen to voicemail messages through the entertainment unit.

• User-friendly, high-speed Internet that has the look and feel of popular web browsers and are accessible via guest room televisions and cordless keyboards. Guests can also access the Internet via ethernet connection by using their own laptops. Wi-fi Internet access is available on the 35th floor sky lobby and 36th floor catering & conference areas.

• User accessible A/V panels specially custom built into the guestroom furniture to enable guests to plug in their laptops, video/digital cameras, MP3s and other gadgets and use the in-room entertainment system for the output. 

• Cisco VoIP (Voice-over-IP) telephones provide enhanced capabilities, including display screens with language options based on users� profiles and unsurpassed sound clarity. Premium suites have Cisco�s top-of-the-line 7970 model featuring 6-line colored touch screen telephones. Conference call capabilities include hosting calls for as many as six people at any given time. Pre-arranged conference call services can be all-encompassing so as to include wake-up call requests and pre-ordered In-Room Dining. 

• Technology that allows uninterrupted mobile telephone use throughout the hotel and Time Warner Center, including in elevators. 

Mandarin Oriental is the award-winning owner and operator of some of the world�s most prestigious hotels and resorts. The Group operates 20 luxury hotels in key business and leisure destinations, with a further five hotels under development in Chiang Mai, Thailand (opening late 2004); Hong Kong, Riviera Maya, Mexico and Tokyo (opening 2005); Boston (opening 2006).  In total, Mandarin Oriental now operates, or has under development, over 7,700 rooms in 13 countries with 12 hotels in Asia, nine in The Americas and four in Europe.