Understanding the Current Wireless Screen Casting Environment in Hotels

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1 Solution Brief Revolutionizing the Screen Casting Experience in Hotels using Secure Private Wi-Fi The way in which people watch TV is rapidly changing across the world as a myriad of Over-the-Top (OTT) content and technologies (such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Sling) enter the landscape of entertainment. Certainly, OTT content has also changed the hospitality television arena. Although linear television content remains relevant, hoteliers are evaluating innovative ways to customize the hotel room experience for their guests and the television screen is emerging as one of the key elements in the process. Understanding the Current Wireless Screen Casting Environment in Hotels The in-room television is forming a straightforward and innovative path to build credibility with the guests. With the sheen of paid on-demand and linear TV losing its luster, wireless screen casting has emerged as a savior for the hospitality industry. Hoteliers must generally invest in Smart TVs that natively support casting or a dongle (or a similar device) that can enable the guests to pair their personal device with the dumb TV in the room. The implementations are based on a combination of several screen casting and mirroring protocols, such as Chromecast, Airplay, Miracast, Samsung AllShare Cast, and UPnP/DLNA. The solution generally extends a plug-and-play technology with a device for each room synced with the hotel s Wi-Fi. Guests can find the cast link on their compatible ios or Android device once they sign into Wi-Fi. In simple words, you can view it as HDMI over Wi-Fi that requires no cables to connect your device to the TV screen. While screen casting and mirroring are gaining popularity, the home-away-from-home experience is not limited to just watching favorite movies and shows on the in-room television sets. Guests want more. They also want to bring their own gaming devices, such as Xbox and PlayStation, which they expect to not only seamlessly connect to hotel TV screens, but also to their own screens such as tablets, so they can play games while relaxing at the pool. However, this expectation is not just restricted to gaming devices, as there are instances of professionals carrying their gears and software applications that requires similar peer-to-peer device connectivity. For example, a professional photographer or videographer will want to be able to live stream video and share photos in real time with their clients both on and off the property. The uses cases for this range from personal events such as weddings and birthday parties to business events such as keynotes and talent casting. Screen casting technologies; gaming devices, such as Xbox; and software applications, such as WebGroup, CaptureOne and Lightroom that enable live streaming require hotels to allow peer-to-peer, two-way device communication over a Wi-Fi network a challenging undertaking for the Hospitality IT organization. 1

2 The Current Generation of Hotel Guests Growing Dependence on Non-Linear Television Hotels today can no longer bring innovation to in-room entertainment as a value-added premium service; instead, it must be offered to meet guest expectations. The new generation of technology-savvy hotel guest whether their stay is for business or leisure is not dependent on what s on TV now; rather, these travelers want to watch their choice of content at any time and place of choice. The latest trend of Casting is the ability to pair hospitality TV with a guest-carried streaming device to allow hotels guests to navigate and authenticate their device a smartphone or a tablet and stream content to the TV in the room. The effort to bring the guest s living room experience to the hotel room is taking shape now. Guest Wi-Fi -a Common Denominator to Ensure a Secure Casting Experience Use of hospitality Wi-Fi to enable casting and any type of two-way, peer-to-peer device communication presents two major complexities for hoteliers: bandwidth and security. Imagine a scenario when many guests start simultaneously casting their devices over a shared open Wi-Fi network. It can really impact the Wi-Fi performance and guest experience. Further imagine the impact of a security breach or device malfunction that allows people to cast their devices in another guest s room accidentally or intentionally. 2

3 The Guest Wi-Fi Network Challenge The typical hospitality guest Wi-Fi network is designed as a scaled up version of a home Wi-Fi network. This means that, as it would be at home, the Wi-Fi in the hotel is one network into which all guests on the property join. The Wi-Fi passwords are either shared openly or the network is left wide open for any device to connect without requiring any password. At times, the network may be protected at the L5 level, via a captive portal. However, sometimes the captive portal is even integrated with the property management system. However, the networks are almost universally never protected at L2 and L1 layers. With such implementations, the network remains vulnerable. Everyone can see everyone s device and there is a potential risk of hacking or spoofing from other guests on the same network. The casting devices in each room are configured to use the same guest Wi-Fi, which means that everyone on the network would be able to cast to the guests casting device from a cast-enabled app on their phone or tablet a major security and privacy hole. The other major challenge is shared bandwidth with limited access control policies to protect user privacy and ensure the connectivity experience. On a shared router, a single guest has the potential to bring down the entire hotel guest Wi-Fi network, by taking the identity of the router or performing a DDOS against the router. 3

4 Many solutions are available to solve the challenge, but each comes with its own respective constraints: Strict Access Control Policies: One extreme of Wi-Fi implementation is when stringent access-point-protection policies are implemented so that nobody is able to see anybody else s devices. Such implementations do not work with casting solutions because they restrict guest devices from communicating across the network and pair with the casting device. The check-box while setting the policies only prevents the active device to device communication, however, that still does not prevent any packets from being on the network that should not be there. Use of Multiple SSIDs: Deploying multiple SSIDs might seem like a potential solution to resolve some of the open guest Wi-Fi challenges, but this approach has its own challenges, such as guest confusion, management complexities and Wi-Fi performance degradation. SSID beacons alone will consume 25% of all available wireless bandwidth when either 8 SSIDs are present with one AP per channel or 4 SSIDs are present with two APs per channel. Use of Proxies to Segment Guest Traffic: Many hotel networks use proxies to route only specified traffic between guest devices. While this looks very promising, it is only a Band-Aid solution. There is no real privacy between the guests, only a veneer because the proxy solution builds upon the single large flat network design. Even though there may be some authentication at L5 but no protection at L2/L1 layers. This kind of implementation also means that any change in the casting protocol will require an update to the proxy. The rate at which consumer electronics change and update is far faster than that of network infrastructure products. This is a real issue and has already manifested itself several times in the past few years. Allow UPnP, Port Forwarding, or Set up DMZ Zones: To allow guests to bring their Xbox, casting devices, and live streaming software applications, the network must allow port forwarding or enable Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), which has huge security risks. Although this approach works safely at home, the challenge primarily resides in today s hospitality Wi-Fi networks, which are designed as a one-home umbrella network. They expose devices and applications to an insecure network with multiple guests using the same network. Once the device or application accepts a request to turn on UPnP, it may choose to become a host device and has the potential to open the floodgates of other users seeing and touching the device in the network even from outside the network a recipe that leads to the entire network getting hacked. On the other hand, devices such as Xbox that use UPnP will not likely work in a hospitality environment, even after enabling UPnP and port forwarding. This lack of functionality is due to port collision issues created by multiple Xboxes trying to use the same port. However, micro-segmenting and partitioning the LAN can accommodate these protocols without the concern of insecurity. 4

5 Samsung Future Proof Wi-Fi Solution Solves the Secure Casting and Xbox Challenges Hospitality IT managers need to resolve the challenges with casting to deliver the ability For guest/subscribers to carry their devices and applications with them To bring the home experience to the hotel room To connect instant-subscriber provisioning To provide an individual safety net with a private broadcast domain To enable an end user self-service portal for ease Samsung Wi-Fi is a Game Changer for Hotels Enables better per-user private connectivity, security, and operational simplicity Fast, reliable, and seamless Wireless connectivity However, to provide these elements securely and effectively, hotels must deploy a Wi-Fi network that micro-segments each user s traffic, even on a shared network. Allow your guests to bring their Xbox and PlayStation without worrying about Wi-Fi network security and bandwidth challenges Prevents inadvertent actions from adversely affecting the entire wireless network Enables guests to turn the hotel room into a living room (screencast, Xbox) without bandwidth and security concerns The answer to that is implementing a per-guest Dynamic Virtual Local Area Network (DVLAN) assignment-based casting solution. Per-guest DVLAN implementation brings carrier-grade network architecture to the hotel guest HSIA network. This kind of network architecture is future proof. It will work with casting protocols that have yet to be invented, which means that no upgrades will be required even if casting protocols change over time. The Samsung Wi- Fi solution enables this to happen in a costeffective and simple-to-use manner and allows hotels to offer secure casting solutions, as well as the option for guests to bring their own gaming consoles a game changer for hoteliers. Provides a single solution to hoteliers to apply granular policies Future proof 5

6 Supporting Future Trends in Casting and Connected Experiences Casting trends continue to evolve to provide guests with a ubiquitous and personalized entertainment experience. Casting will evolve beyond guest rooms and eventually let guests cast their favorite content to other screens, such as the one on the treadmill in the gym. Likewise, as TVs and digital screens become the hub of controls and guest management, IoT-driven AI applications, such as guest recognition based on the phone or a loyalty program, will be introduced. The casting device will also evolve to recognize the guest, based on the app on the phone, and suggest favorites or continue watching options for shows where they last left. A strong Wi-Fi solution with micro-segmentation capabilities facilitates such future developments in guest entertainment and casting while ensuring security and an excellent user experience. Samsung is the ideal partner for hoteliers who want a comprehensive, turnkey package of Wi-Fi infrastructure for indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi, Hospitality TV, SmartThings to create private IoT hubs for guests, mobile devices, and audiovideo (AV) equipment, such as digital signage and video security and surveillance. 6

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