News for the Hospitality Executive |
Chicago — April 20, 2010 — Microsoft has invited OpenWays, a global provider of mobile-based access-management solutions for the security and hospitality industries, to join its BizSpark™ program. Microsoft launched BizSpark™ in late 2008 to help accelerate the success of promising new companies by providing software, support and visibility to organizations that uniquely know the start-up community. In November 2009, OpenWays (which has offices in Chicago, Las Vegas, Seoul and Paris) launched with a very powerful and secured multi-technology and fully interoperable credential delivery platform dedicated to cell phone users. The company is the first in the global hospitality industry to enable any of the 4 billion-plus cell phones in the world to receive a dematerialized key via an encrypted acoustic tone to bypass a hotel's front desk and access door locks. This ubiquitous solution uses the principle of Crypto Acoustic Credential (CAC™) and text messaging (SMS) to very securely deliver a key to the right user anywhere in the world. The solution is compatible with the major electronic-locking systems and access-control systems. "On behalf of the entire OpenWays team, we are thrilled to have been selected by Microsoft as the newest company to join this support-based Software as a Service (SaaS) program," said Pascal Metivier, OpenWays CEO. "Knowing that this opportunity is by invitation only is a real honor. Through BizSpark™, Microsoft will assist us in building one-to-one relationships with a global community of advisors, investors and peers and provide us with the most current, full-feature tools and platforms to build our apps and the licenses for services to host them on. Bring Cellular Tools to Customers in the Clouds OpenWays is supported by a team of experts with more than 100 years of combined experience in global security, hotel security, systems security, and counter terrorism technology. Together this team has been able to accomplish what mobile network operators and hotel executives wanted for years -- bring cellular-technology to traveling consumers for services including loyalty management, travel companion applications, credential management, hotel check-in/out with key and lock management, voucher management, convention management and more. The SaaS and cloud-computing nature of the OpenWays solution is what makes it such a vital and successful tool for today's savvy world travelers. "OpenWays software generates a unique series of encrypted tones that essentially serve as aural fingerprints," Metivier said. "The benefit of using an acoustic key is that all phones are made to produce sound. The encrypted acoustic sound produced is unique, and thanks to OpenWays patents-pending solutions, a fraudulent recording of the key will be made inefficient to open a door." The OpenWays CAC™ principle is just one of the capabilities of the OpenWays multi-technology platform. The company also offers a very unique mobile phone software Tool Kit allowing customers to develop and deploy Web-based mobile phone applications with an automatic hardware (cell phone make and type) detection system. It means that the Web content of the application automatically adapts to the phone, avoiding seeing some strange renderings on the cell phone display while using the app. In February, OpenWays announced an application for smartphones (embedded or mobile web-based) that allows travelers to check-in remotely, bypass the front desk and open the door to their room by simply pressing a “key” icon on their mobile device. Those traveling with an iPhone, BlackBerry, NOKIA, Android-based or other Windows-based mobile cell phone can securely obtain an encrypted room key in "full data mode" as long as they are staying at a hotel that enables the OpenWays mobile key service. "The OpenWays multi-technology platform has one goal: To empower hoteliers to offer now a mobile-key service to 100% of their guests who are traveling with a smartphone or any other mobile device," Metivier said. "As further delays for the commercial release of Near Field Communication (NFC) compatible phones were announced this week, the OpenWays multi-technology approach continues to pave the road to NFC while enabling hotels chains to immediately reap the numerous benefits of deploying a mobile phone strategy." About OpenWays OpenWays is a global solution provider of mobile-based access-management and security solutions. With offices in Chicago, Las Vegas, Seoul and Paris, OpenWays provides technology solutions allowing for the secure issuance and delivery of access rights and keys process via any cell phone operating on any network. The OpenWays solution is truly unique as it built on the concept of credential dematerialization. The OpenWays mobile room key solution works on ALL the 4.4 billion cell phones in service in the world today. For more information, please contact Pascal Metivier at ++ 33 6 85 622 306 or email [email protected] or Barb Worcester at +1 440 930 5770 or email [email protected]. |
Contact:
Barb Worcester |