N+I 1999: The Venetian Places Its Bet on HP Switches

One of the popular after-show activities at Networld+Interop is catching a cab back to the strip, if nothing else than to see what new billion-dollar extravaganza has been built since last year's show. The week strip is abuzz with talk about the Las Vegas Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino. This $1.5 billion mega-resort, themed after Renaissance Venice, opened on May 3, and is authentic (in a Vegas sort of way) with waterways, gondolas, frescos, and replicas of Venetian landmarks.

What is not apparent is that the networking hardware behind the stone walls. The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino has implemented a comprehensive network built around HP ProCurve Switch 8000M and 4000M switches from Hewlett Packard Co. (HP; Palo Alto, CA).

The network encompasses two local area network (LAN) connections to each of the 3,036 suites, 2,475 slot machines, and 120 game tables, making it one of the most sophisticated network installations in operation (thus far) at any of the major Las Vegas resorts.

The Venetian uses HP ProCurve Switch 8000M switches as the backbone of its LAN, extending throughout the hotel's two towers and convention center. The HP ProCurve Switch 4000M, a managed, modular 10/100 Gigabit desktop switch, provides The Venetian with redundant links to the various wiring closets. Through integrated HP TopTools for Hubs & Switches, the network manager runs the system through a simple Web browser.