Info Solutions partnered with Ocean Resorts Casino to take on an unusual challenge: transform a casino and hotel property that had been closed for three years and revive all the IT infrastructure and supportive communications—with the clock ticking toward a summer tourist season launch in less than six months.
Overview
Opening a new casino and resort is challenging enough but opening one whose IT infrastructure has been mothballed for nearly 3 years turns into nothing short of an archeological expedition. The former Revel casino in Atlantic City, NJ closed in September 2014 and remained dark until it was most recently acquired by Ocean Resort Casino in the beginning of 2018. The resort, popularly referred to as “The Ocean” would reopen at the end of June 2018.
Challenge
With just six months to the Grand Opening, the new owners were seeking a company with both IT infrastructure capabilities and casino industry experience. Info Solutions’ previous experience designing and supporting the network infrastructure for other Atlantic City Casino properties made them the obvious choice for the new Ocean Resort Casino.
The Ocean Resort Casino has an incredibly complex environment. The team would need to provide IT infrastructure and services for over 2,000 users, 1,400 rooms and 130,000 square feet of gaming floor. Their integrated IT needs include hospitality, dining, retail shops, a regulated gaming environment, and the corporate back offices.
Solution
The first step was to perform a forensic analysis of all IT infrastructure and systems throughout the property. Data switches, and security appliances were used to securely connect the hotel tower, gaming floor, back office operations and data center services. A wireless system with over 1200 wireless access points was updated and redesigned to provide better coverage, security and performance across the property. To turn a venue that has been asleep for years to a functional environment in today’s world, the Info Solutions team created a prioritized and cost-effective plan of what could be kept, what could be reused, what needed replacing, and what needed to change.
Completely new features that Info Solutions designed, implemented and supported included the Ocean’s online gaming presence, a Call Center, and a new IP television system for 1,400 hotel rooms.
Rather than ripping out old technology and starting fresh, Info Solutions was able to leverage much of the existing infrastructure by performing software updates, repurposing equipment, and correcting long-standing network design and performance issues, allowing Ocean to open their doors with minimal added expenditure.
With the chaos of opening in less than 6 months, Info Solutions was a trusted partner from the first phone call. The Info Solutions team “owned” the project providing creative solutions to problems and working as an integral part of the IT Infrastructure team.
Results
When the Ocean opened on time in summer 2018, the hotel was completely booked and gaming regulators were impressed with the casino floor operations. As the dust settles, Info Solutions continues to support the project to tackle on-going maintenance and upgrades.
They continue to work with onsite IT teams to prioritize needs for equipment and software upgrades after the initial opening.
“We needed an IT partner with strong technical capabilities to help us build out our IT infrastructure quickly and securely,” said Frank Bonini, Senior Vice President of Information Technology at The Ocean. “Info Solutions was the right IT partner to help us open our casino and we continue to count on them for ongoing support.”
About Info Solutions
Info Solutions LLC, is one of the fastest-growing specialized IT infrastructure companies in the Mid-Atlantic region. Founded in 2008, we serve a wide range of industries and businesses of all sizes. For more information about Info Solutions, call 302-793-9200 or contact us today.