Author: Ben Debski

All that glitters

Posted on by Ben Debski

For the ladies…
In ancient Egypt, charms were used for identification and as symbols of faith and luck, nowadays charm bracelets carry personal charms, decorative pendants or trinkets which signify important things in the wearer’s life, giving your piece a unique personal feel.

This striking Persia Bracelet (£100, 020 7225 3915) features dangling flower, heart and horn charms with vibrant peridot and amethyst stones embedded in 24k gold and is perfect to show off a delicate wrist. Alternatively, for the upper arms, there is this stunning 9ct Red Gold and Silver Fantail Armlet (£600- 01663 762232). If you are searching for a little more drama in your adornments, choose a chunky decorative bracelet. Along with the growing emphasis on size, jewellery designers are infusing their creations with mouth-watering colours; this Multi-stone Bangle ( £360, 020 7224 1808) will enliven the dullest of outfits with its striking oval cornelian stones, round labradorite, jade, lapis lazuli and pave crystal and is ideal to team with your little black dress. Alternatively choose a Tigers Eye Cuff (£210-www.kabiri.co.uk) to give a sophisticated twist to your work wear.

Inspired by tribal jewels, large neck pieces are set to be the cornerstone of the new season, giving an edge to any outfit. This eclectic heavyweight Armour necklace from Oishii Jewellery (£220, www.oishii-jewellery.co.uk) or this chunky aquamarine crystal and sterling silver necklace (£160, 08452 600 925) are versatile enough to be worn during the day or to dress up your evening outfit. Alternatively, if you are looking for a simpler, timeless piece that you can wear everyday, this Chloe Necklace (£165 -0870 160 7270) oozes sophistication and versatility, or opt for this timeless luxurious pearl and rock crystal sectioned necklace (£1,350,www.kararossny.com)

Whether you favour dangly statement pieces or simple studs, earrings are undeniably elegant and give the final feminine touches to any outfit. Yellow gold earrings are especially flattering, adding a warm glow to the face, and the most on-trend shape – lean and linear – adds great sway and flirty movement. These green Amethyst Earrings (£460 -020 7224 1808) achieve a subtle understated elegance and are ideal to bring out beautiful green hues in the eyes of their wearer. For a touch of novelty, who could resist these striking 18ct swallow Studs? (£265 –www.kabiri.co.uk) They are the ideal gift for a younger sibling or friend. Alternatively, finish your style off with a pair of Paisley Earrings by Zoe and Morgan ( £105 – 020 7224 1808) or this contemporary pair of moonstone and cubic zirconia drop earrings ( www.goldsmiths.co.uk).

A large gemstone ring in a bright candy color, whether real or costume, is an evening-out staple, teaming sophistication with high fashion; fabulous to team with your cocktail dress, this stunning costume ring (£120, 020 7224 1808) is a real talking piece. Or, if more intricate design is what you need to give your dress a down-to-earth feel, choose this stunning aquamarine cocktail ring (From £1000-www.kararossny.com) to adorn your finger, guaranteed to be a talking point. For an elegant twist on a classic, choose this everyday ring embellished with diamonds (From £220,www.dyrbergkern.com), or a more subtle version with a few set stones (£180, www.goldsmiths.co.uk).

For the gentlemen…
Whilst many men automatically associate the term ‘jewellery’ with women and will not stray from the classic wrist watch, accessories are now undoubtedly playing a more dominant role in men’s fashion. More and more designers have moved into this sector and there are now a great variety of pieces available to complement any outfit. Well-chosen accessories can add the finishing touches to a smart wardrobe and good grooming. A glimpse of a sophisticated chain around the neck will automatically add a hint of style to any outfit, be it for work or leisure.

Choose simple underrated pieces like this intricate chain detail necklace (£650 – 01618339433), which is quietly understated and oozes style. Made from titanium, the inspiration behind the design is taken from the shape of a beetle’s wing. Alternatively, this cross chain (£100, 08001693647) will instantly update your look. If you are after something a little more daring, make a statement with this distinctly contemporary must-have Ace Pendant (£2550 -020 7224 1808), an 18k white gold playing card pendant from the unisex ‘Casino’ range by Sho.

With endless choices of wrist wear for gentleman, it is sometimes difficult to know where to start. Both the new Tissot Quadrato Gents Watch (£265, www.goldsmiths.co.uk) and the Seiko Sportura gents(£265, www.goldsmiths.co.uk) are two good places. Both of these stunners feature black square chronograph dials with blue aspects, date function, stainless steel casing and are also water resistant. Why not team your watch with a leather wristband for a contemporary twist. Choose this plain brown leather from Dyberg Kern for a hint of sophistication, or, for if you are feeling a little more ‘Crocodile Dundee’, there is a snakeskin option available. (Both £100, www.dyrbergkern.com).

Never bored of Bordeaux

Posted on by Ben Debski

It’s easy to be cynical about over-hyped wines, particularly when they come from Bordeaux. The region has played ‘boy who cried wolf’ too many times to be taken seriously. Not enough sunshine to soften the wines? Trust the Bordelais to describe it as a ‘classic’ vintage. Too much rain leading to diluted tastes? ‘Early drinking wines’. They have an answer for everything, and a reputation for putting the prices up to match.

But every once in a while comes along a year that reminds us just what is so magical about this tiny spot of the wine world, and why on the secondary auction market, Bordeaux wines account for over 80% of the activity, offering returns that prove surprisingly steady.

2005 has been called Bordeaux’s ‘vintage of the century’, ‘best vintage since 1961’ and many other things. It received plenty of plaudits at the time, and much of it was snapped up ‘en primeur (as wine futures, two years before bottling)’. The time for bottling has just been and gone for most of the wines, meaning that these wonderful (if wallet-smarting) wines are ready for delivery – and can now be bought in your local wine merchant.

With such a big year, you can expect the wines to last for a long time, but the sunshine and sweet ripe fruit means that many are ready for drinking, or at least will taste pretty amazing already, even if they do have a long life ahead of them. And this is a year to experiment with both small and big names – it doesn’t take a genius to work out that buying a Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2005 is going to bag you a pretty nice tipple (current price per bottle reaching £1000), but with such an outstanding vintage there are excellent wines at all levels, and searching out the wines that punch way above their weight is definitely part of the fun.

Chateau Bellefont Belcier, Saint Emilion Grand Cru 2005 (approx €38,75)
The 20-hectare property was promoted to grand cru classified status in 2006, under successful direction from the brilliant Dominique Hebrard, meaning that the 2005 really is a bargain because you get all the talent of the winemaker without the classification tag on the label. As with so many of the 2005 Bordeaux, this has all the juice and ripe fruit that the region can lack in less successful years, and here the notes of strawberries, lavender and blackberries of the majority-Merlot make it taste wonderfully seductive only three years after harvest. Some toasted oak gives it a sweet finish. This is classic Right Bank Bordeaux.

Chateau Brane Cantenac, Margaux (approx €77.00)
This is owned by Henri Lurton, patriarch of one of the great clans of the region – if you start to get interested in Bordeaux wines, it won’t be very long before you come face to face with the Lurton name. Henri is one of the most reclusive, publicity-shy of the bunch, but that doesn’t stop him from expressing his pedigree through his wine, and this is already tasting delicious, but no doubt can keep going for decades. This is a chateau that I often think is overlooked among the glittering Margaux hierarchy, and the 2005 shows just why we should sit up and take notice, with its heaps of burnt herbs, liquorice, and a sweetness to the black fruits that comes entirely from perfectly ripe picking. Elegant but unmistakably flamboyant, like Oleg Cassini in a glass.

Chateau Rauzan Segla, Margaux 2005 (approx £80)
Not only is this one of the prettiest chateaux in Margaux, but it is also one of the real stars of recent years. In 1994, the second classified growth estate was bought by the Wertheimer family of Chanel, who installed a winemaking team led by David Orr (from Chateau Latour) and American John Kolasa. The quality just keeps getting better under this team, and although it is not a cheap wine, it is very definitely worth it. The 2005 was one of my personal favourites of the appellation, taught and muscular and still barely at the beginning of an enormously long life. Rich blackcherries remind me of overindulging on pick-your-own farms in the 1970s, while the gorgeously perfumed nose just goes on and on.

Clos de Clocher, Pomerol 2005 (approx €65)
This small Pomerol property (just over four hectares in one of Bordeaux’s smallest appellations) is always good value for money, but never more so than in 2005, as owner Jean Baptiste Buorotte didn’t raise his prices to quite the degree of many of his neighbours. The attractive name (a clocher is a church tower) comes from the fact that the vineyard is within sight and sound of the small village church that is pretty much Pomerol’s only landmark. Taste-wise, classic Pomerol flavours of violets and truffles abound. Full-bodied but not overpowering; this is a serious wine to watch.

Chateau du Moulin Rouge, Haut Medoc Cru Bourgeois 2005 (approx €11)
Described by many sources as one of the best value-for-quality 2005s on the market, this small, understated properties is located in the middle of many more prestigious names in the Medoc region of Bordeaux. It is family-run, unpretentious and uses many traditional winemaking methods, from barrel ageing to natural egg-white fining. The 2005 wine contains 50 percent Merlot, 45 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 5 percent Cabernet Franc, giving it a softer taste profile than many wines from this region, and ensuring that the ripe red fruits take precedence. At this price, you can afford to enjoy the best qualities of this vintage again and again – definitely one to buy by the case.

Chateau La Dauphine, Fronsac 2005 (approx €15)
It has now been seven years since Jean Halley bought this estate from the Moueix family of Chateau Petrus, and the quality has just kept getting better and better. This appellation is just five minutes drive from Saint Emilion and Pomerol, and has many of the qualities of both, without the price tag. Always good value, the 2005 La Dauphine was recently bumped up to a 90-pointer from Robert Parker, meaning that all of a sudden it’s sought after in the US, but although completely sold out at the property, there is still plenty of it available in stores… Round, flattering brambly fruits, full of concentration and purity of flavour. 80 percent Merlot and 20 percent Cabernet Franc.

Express yourself

Posted on by Ben Debski

Five top journeys

Glacier Express, Switzerland
The world’s slowest ‘express’ winds its way at a leisurely 38.5km through breathtaking Alpine scenery. In winter, it’s ‘like travelling through CS Lewis’s magical world of Narnia’ says train guru Mark Smith from seat61.com.

Eastern & Oriental Express, SE Asia
Absorb the tropical countryside of Asia – rice paddy fields, rubber and palm trees – while revelling in pure luxury on the 1920km between Singapore as Bangkok.

Blue Train, South Africa
Butler service, lounges, an observation car and full-sized bathtubs on the 1600km journey are just some of the features that help this Pretoria-Cape Town train live up to its billing as ‘a five-star hotel on wheels’.

Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express, Russia
One of the world’s epic train journeys recently got a facelift, with twelve swanky new carriages and dining car introducing pure luxury into an exotic, culturally fascinating odyssey. www.trans-siberia.com

Shinkasen, Japan
Whereas many other great journeys offer historic elegance, Japan’s new Nozomi bullet train whizzes by into the future, devouring the 520km between Tokyo and Kyoto in two hours and 10 minutes.

It’s real travel again
One thing Mark Smith likes to make clear is that he’s no trainspotter. ‘I’m sure Alan Whicker doesn’t have these problems,’ jokes the man behind the cult rail information website seat61.com, when the word ‘enthusiast’ is mentioned. ‘The travel’s the thing. I like travelling by train and ship because it’s civilised.’

With his online trove of timetable information and links, tips on booking and even photographs and videos of onboard accommodation, Smith – the ‘man in seat 61’ – has certainly plugged into the zeitgeist. He explains how growing public emphasis on green and stress-free travel have helped turn a hobby website into a full-time phenomenon.

Why seat 61? We’ve heard it’s your favourite Eurostar seat?
Yes, that’s true. I found myself always asking for it, to make sure that I got a seat that lined up with a window, and it faces another across a table. It’s much more sociable than staring at a seat back.

What inspired you to develop this comprehensive information resource for UK rail travellers heading to Europe and beyond?
I’ve always found it very easy to go by train, say down to Spain or Italy. It’s far more practicable, quicker and cheaper than people think, but finding out about it beforehand was a nightmare. So after stumbling on a guide to writing your own website, I started in 2001 with a simple page about getting from the UK to principal cities. From there, it sort of snowballed.

It certainly has. How on earth do you manage to keep it so detailed and current?
I used to have a full-time job, and would update the site on a laptop while commuting to work. I was the only person delighted when the train ground to a halt outside Marylebone waiting for a signal! But in September (2007) I was able to give up my job to concentrate the site full-time. It’s a bit like detective work, putting different sources together. Increasingly, seat61 visitors are emailing with me with suggestions, comments, corrections and updates, so it’s also growing organically.

The rediscovery of rail travel is an oft-discussed media topic. Do you have hard evidence that this is genuinely happening?
About three years ago, I was getting 150,000 visitors a month and now it’s half a million. There’s undoubtedly been a change.The train is no longer forgotten. It’s real travel again.

Has the nature of your readership changed since the site’s inception?
Initially, it was a whole raft of people who were forgotten by travel agents – people afraid of flying or who simply preferred to go by rail. However, in the last two years, their numbers have been overwhelmed by people citing the hassle of flying and the environmental impact of flying as reasons for switching to the train. That’s been a huge effect – really huge.

So, which are the most popular country pages or journeys?
In Europe, it’s Italy, followed by France and then Spain, where you can catch Eurostar to Paris and a direct train hotel from Paris to Madrid or Barcelona. Around the world, the journey everyone wants to do is Singapore to Bangkok – either one the luxurious Eastern & Oriental Express or do it on the regular daily train for £30. Germany, the Netherlands, China and the United States are also popular destinations.

Many of those are holiday routes. Aren’t many rail journeys just too slow for business travellers?
For decades, it was a truism of railway marketeers that three hours was the magic figure. If you could get the train journey, centre to centre, down to three hours you could compete for business travel with the plane. But about a year ago, the chief executive of French Railways (Guillaume Pépy) declared that’s now changed. It’s now more congested to get to and from the airport, we’re being told to check-in two hours before the flight, take-offs are often delayed and so on. So that magic figure is now at least four hours and sometimes five.

Which potential new business routes does this create?
Between Perpignon and Paris, where the French Railways have a five hour 15 minute journey time, they have a 50 percent market share of the air-rail market. That’s been a big shift. It’s worth mentioning Madrid-Malaga (three hours) and Madrid-Barcelona, which should come down to three and then two and a half hours soon. And I don’t think the airlines will know what’s hit them when London-Amsterdam, with one change in Brussels, comes down from five hours, 30 minutes to four hours, 10 minutes as planned.

Do punctuality, seamless travel and a growing number of eco-friendly corporate polices figure in the equation?
Of course, plus the train is more productive, with powerpoints for your laptop and, in some cases, Wi-Fi. Travelling by plane you get bugger-all done, as you’re not allowed to use your laptop until after take-off and you can’t work the taxi to the airport and so on. I would like to see the railways get their booking sites right and for business travel agents to offer rail directly instead of just flights and car-hire.

Off-duty, do you have any favourite rail trips?
One is the Caledonian sleeper from London to Fort William. First of all I love the train, because it’s a hotel on wheels with a lounge car that serves excellent scotch whisky and haggis. And what could be better than going to bed in the big bad city of London and waking up in the middle of the Western Highlands?

Finally, do airlines ever have the privilege of your custom?
When it’s unavoidable. Our family flew to New Zealand last year, but once we arrived we stayed on the ground. From London, I’ve got as far as Nagasaki overland, and on another occasion to Hong Kong, but I’m always tempted to travel further.

Organising a successful uk conference

Posted on by Ben Debski

The British Isles offer a rich diversity of venues and support services for those tasked with organising a meeting, conference, or similar business event. For example, there are around 3500 venues from which to choose: city centre or airport hotels, country house hotels, purpose-built conference centres, management training centres, college and university venues, and the myriad of unusual venues which range from tourist attractions to stately homes to sports stadia, steam trains, and even a lighthouse or two. There are also a growing number of specialist conference and event management companies, able to take on the whole planning, marketing and staging of an event, or simply be contracted for certain aspects.

Given this plethora of choice, how should you go set about the process of organising a conference in the UK, and which external bodies and agencies can be relied on to provide expert assistance and advice?

The organisation of a conference in the UK requires a similar strategic approach to that needed for planning and managing most other events elsewhere. Clear objectives should be set from the beginning, a budget has to be established, a venue must be sourced, delegates’ accommodation and travel arrangements made, a programme has to be prepared and the conference managed for its duration.

Increasingly, health and safety, security, venue contracts and service guarantees are among a number of other aspects needing serious consideration. Then, after the conference is over, final administrative details have to be completed and some evaluation of the conference should take place in order to make appropriate ROI calculations. While there are different factors to take into account when organising a conference for 500 delegates rather than one for 50, the essential components are the same.

Choosing the right venue and location
An event organiser is always keen to maximise delegate attendance and ensure that the event in question is seen to be accessible, not just for delegates but also for speakers and possible VIP attendees. The choice of location is key to meeting these two objectives satisfactorily. The choice of location will also, however, impact on other aspects of the event, not least the overall budget, but also social programme options, the possible theme for the conference and the type of venue available, for example.

It is likely to be the case that for some types of meetings/events, a more out-of-the-way location will be appropriate to enable attendees to focus on achieving the aims of the event without too many disturbances or distractions, or to ensure that the event is seen as different or distinctive. Events such as board retreats, some training courses and certain incentive-type events fall into this category.

There is a whole range of tools and resources available to companies: trade magazines, exhibitions, directories, websites, CD-Roms and DVDs, promotional material from venues and destinations, familiarisation and inspection trips, venue finding agencies and professional conference organisers (PCOs) are some of the main ones.

The internet has transformed, and continues to transform, venue search activities, offering immediate access to information on venues nationally and internationally, including ‘virtual’ tours of venues and online booking of conference and meeting rooms (not just accommodation). While such immediacy may well have great attraction for the increasingly busy conference/event organiser, a word of caution needs to be sounded here. Online booking may be fine for a small half-day meeting for 10-20 people where all that’s really needed is a suitable room with some refreshments and possibly AV facilities, but it will often not be appropriate if the event is larger and of longer duration.

Conference organisers should still, wherever possible, visit the venue before booking. Pictures and photos in directories or on a website may give a very misleading impression of what the venue is actually like, and they will certainly not help in judging the quality and professionalism of the staff in the venue who will be assisting in delivering a successful event. Such assessments can only be carried out through first-hand, face-to-face interaction. We are still a people industry and happily are not yet reliant on robots to service and support our events!

Sources of advice and assistance
Many of the types of venues discussed above are linked with their local area conference or convention bureau. There are around 80 such bureaux throughout the British Isles, stretching from Belfast and Edinburgh to Torquay and Jersey, and representing all the key conference ‘destinations’.

The primary roles of convention bureaux are marketing (i.e. to maximise conference business for their destinations) and the provision of event support services (ensuring that events are run as successfully as possible). The USPs of bureaux include their intimate local knowledge and contacts and their ability to provide objective advice and tailored support.

Services include:
– Venue selection
– Familiarisation/inspection visits
– Delegate information
– Accommodation booking
– Social programme advice
– Access and local transport
– Supporting conference bids
– Financial assistance

The British Association of Conference Destinations (BACD) is the trade association representing conference destination marketing organisations across in the British Isles. Members are convention and visitor bureaux, conference desks, and national tourist boards. Founded in 1969, BACD is the oldest of the conference sector associations in the UK. Conference bureaux may be contacted directly or via the BACD web site (www.bacd.org.uk).

This is also the time to consider whether the conference should be organised in-house, using a company’s own staff resources and expertise, or outsourced to a professional conference organiser (PCO). A PCO can undertake all aspects of the management of an event or simply be contracted to manage certain elements. The services offered by a PCO range from planning/administration/marketing to financial management, exhibition organisation and technical aspects of the event (such as producing ‘abstracts’, briefing speakers, handling the press and media).

If it is decided to outsource the event to a PCO, care needs to be taken in the selection of the company used. It is advisable to shortlist for consideration only those PCOs that are members of their professional association, who have had to prove their capabilities in the process and/or who can provide strong testimonials from other satisfied clients. The Association of British Professional Conference Organisers (ABPCO) can give assurances for the professionalism of its members.

Association of British Professional Conference Organisers (for outsourcing aspects of the management of a conference to a PCO): www.abpco.org

Both associations may be contacted by telephone on 0121 212 1400

The quiet revolution

Posted on by Ben Debski

The Church of St John The Baptist has stood solidly in the centre of Cardiff for well over 800 years. As the weight of history housed in the austere architecture of its walls bears down upon the faithful congregation, a man sits unobtrusively in a quiet corner, boots up his laptop and launches his Internet browser. As the musical strains from the restored Father Willis organ, built in 1894, fill the parish church, the young man manages to connect to the web wirelessly. He launches his Instant Messaging application and starts to chat with his father online.

At 300,000 feet (roughly 91,000 metres) above sea level, Singapore Airlines flight SQ320 wings its way from Singapore to London close to the speed of sound. Between a can of Diet Coke and a day-old newspaper, another man sitting in Business Class smiles at some comment that popped up onto his laptop screen, already connected wirelessly to the internet. The flight has six more hours before it reaches Heathrow Airport, but he is already trading family news with his son on the ground, somewhere secluded in one of the oldest remaining medieval buildings in Cardiff City.

This scenario, demonstrating the startling developments in wireless broadband over the last twelve months, isn’t fantasy. It is already reality. But every player that has helped  make this digital communication between father and son possible, has had to pass through a trial by fire individually. The impact of this repercussion has not – yet – been felt to its fullest extent.

Seven parties are involved in the above anecdote. BT Openzone (one) working in the UK has built a wireless broadband infrastructure in St John’s Church with the cooperation of the Parish Church of Cardiff in the city centre (two). Connexion by Boeing (three), a business unit of The Boeing Company and the brilliant purveyors of real-time high-speed Internet services to airline passengers in flight, has installed a wireless broadband infrastructure on board a few aircraft operated by Singapore Airlines (four). Both father (five) and son (six) would naturally be paying subscribers of wireless broadband services offered by individual service providers, in this case, BT Openzone in the UK and StarHub in Singapore (seven).

Seven parties are needed to make sure this family exchange between father and son work seamlessly – their messages flying through the ether without disruption or complication. We should not, however, forget the many indirect influences that may have occurred: from the equipment vendors to the developers and engineers of the technology; from the avid fans to the cynical user.

It is not really surprising to see that this complex ecology of vendors, engineers, service providers, location owners, opinion leaders and ultimate users give rise to the wireless broadband phenomenon over the past few years.

But strangely enough, it is a phenomenon that is not entirely visible to many people, compared to other more prominent technologies such as 3G. Developments in the wireless broadband industry are almost akin to background noise. For every major launch of 3G services by an operator, no doubt accompanied by a splashy advertising campaign across all media, tens of wireless broadband hotspots sprout out like mushrooms at every gourmet coffee outlet, fast food restaurant, airport, convention centres, hotel and yes, even churches. All with no more of a fanfare than a semi-visible sign at the entrance stating ‘wireless internet access available’.

If you are a frequent business traveller and you walk down the main street of a shopping or business district in a popular metropolitan city, you are more likely to be bombarded by mobile ads declaiming a major paradigm shift in mobile communications. Meanwhile, our usual workhorse – wireless broadband – keeps plugging away by expanding its coverage beyond traditional human traffic-heavy locations to quiet corners where a few intrepid individuals pound away on their laptop keyboards, taking sips of coffee or tea in between.

However, despite Wifi’s continued growth, like any individual who has attained some level of maturity, there will come a time where personal ambitions hit a brick wall. In technological years, wireless broadband is reaching its middle age, and suffering the pangs of its first mid-life crisis.

For example, used as a small niche technology and service, it works, and works wonderfully. But as it reaches a larger mass audience, you arrive at some insurmountable issues. Technically, it is up to spec. Operationally, it is cumbersome. Connectivity and interface issues crop up constantly. Standards of quality will vary from hotspot to hotspot, from equipment to equipment. As a subscriber of wireless broadband, with so many hotspot providers in the market, you’re stymied by too much choice for too limited coverage. Besides, how do you know where you can log on wirelessly without trolling through lists and lists of locations provided by a multitude of service providers?

As a business, that’s an even greater challenge. Wireless broadband has a real-estate problem and an expensive one at that. While in no way as costly to roll out as in the cellular industry, businesses need a wide-enough coverage to convince customers that it’s a viable service to subscribe to. But how wide is wide enough? No one knows. Coupled with the fact that wireless broadband as a service is an untested business case, and location owners tend to be wary of strange signals pounding down on top of their own customers, you can see trouble coming a mile away.

There are several ways to survive a midlife crisis. You could quit your job, move to another continent, and perhaps get a flashy car to go with your new wardrobe. In wireless broadband terms, that amounts to getting noticed by the big media and major data analyst houses, each shouting in shriller and shriller terms that wireless broadband is ‘incredibly pervasive’, will be a ‘huge money generator’ and ‘incredibly disruptive to the mobile industry’. In many cases, claims like these are exaggerations or clearly unrelated and unrealistic. In all cases, it just makes cheapens a great technical innovation.

The rational alternative solution is to form an Alliance where collectively the wireless broadband industry – as a technology and a service – could drive the adoption of wireless broadband in a consistent manner. That was the chief goal of the Wireless Broadband Alliance when it was created in March 2003.

From the start, members in the Alliance would need to develop a common commercial, technical and marketing framework for wireless network interoperability. Its ultimate aim is to develop a global alliance of wireless providers that can truly deliver services that users can trust. Foremost on its agenda is the drafting of a set series of guidelines to ensure that there is good customer experience and reliability for all wireless broadband users worldwide. Lofty goals, all.

And in its short two-year history, some achievements have been made. Collectively, the Wireless Broadband Alliance operates close to 40,000 hotspots across 23 markets around the world. The Alliance itself consists of over 20 operators, representing some 228 million mobile users and 19 million broadband users. The Alliance has also been interfacing with a large group of manufacturing vendors – from PC makers like IBM to mobile players like Nokia to ensure that, if new developments in the technology do occur, these would not be created in a vacuum but with real inputs from serious operators that want to make wireless broadband work successfully.

The critical component – inter-operator wireless broadband roaming – has started to bear fruit. Billing across operators for roaming has been put in place.  A consistent brand and marketing engine is slowly being rolled out, and a consistent user interface – that does not overlook the fact that language remains a key component in roaming – to ensure easier logins for wireless accounts have been created. What was once a fragmented market, has congealed into a very solid collaboration between like-minded companies – from the US to the UK, from Europe to Asia to Australia.

Wireless broadband is not out of its midlife crisis yet, though. There still remain many challenges to be faced. Location owners need to be convinced that having wireless broadband on their premises would yield significant benefits to their customers. Standards continue to evolve, so must the adoption of these standards. And what will the result be when both the mobile and wireless broadband spheres collide? With a third-generation-WiFi mobile phone possibly coming out this year, all eyes will be on the eventual wedding.

Wireless broadband is growing up. More and more business travellers are finding that its use as an access medium has immeasurably added flexibility and convenience to their daily work. And it’s clearly an important growth area for many operators. Whatever is the future of wireless broadband, it is on the cusp of outliving the allocated lifespan of any new technology. For many, that is already a great enough achievement.

For more information on the Wireless Broadband Alliance, visit www.wballiance.com.

Unique stayovers

Posted on by Ben Debski

Propeller Island City Lodge, Berlin
The experience of staying in a hotel is all about predictability and consistency, you know exactly what you are going to get when you check in. Bed? Check. Bathroom? Check. Bath robe? Check. Furniture suspended from the ceiling in order to immerse guests in a ‘living work of art’? Ch…what?

This is just one of the mind-bending experiences awaiting anybody staying at Berlin’s Propeller Island City Lodge, an attempt to breathe some excitement and a sense of unpredictability into the life of the traveller. Each room adopts a wildly different aesthetic ranging from the relatively straightforward ‘Mirror Room’ (think Alvin Stardust’s dressing room) and the ‘Orange room’ (fairly self explanatory) to the aforementioned ‘Upside Down’ room and the more challenging ‘Four Beams’ – which, due to the bed being suspended in mid-air via a series of ropes, is not available to those guests of a ‘portly’ disposition.

The rooms are all designed by German artist Lars Stroschen, who started off converting two rooms in his house into strange designer guestrooms as a sideline to various art projects. The growing interest in these one-of-a-kind rooms led him to expand into a nearby disused hotel and generate the ideas for the 30 unique rooms that now comprise the City Lodge.

Now, you may be thinking ‘I’m tired, I have had a hard day, the last thing I want when I get back to my hotel is to have to climb a ladder and sleep in a metal cage suspended from the ceiling’, and you would have a point. These rooms have been designed with the priority on innovation and visual impact over comfort and practical use, some have shared bathrooms, the reception is only open for a few hours a day (to keep costs down) and there are instructions for the use of each specific room given to every guest. Obviously Propeller Island is not for everyone, and if waking up inside a psychedelic dreamscape is your idea of a nightmare then you will probably be best off sticking with the nearest Travelodge. The whole place reeks of ‘style over substance’, but when the style is this substantial you can justify the small sacrifices to have what will be a truly unique night’s sleep. Propeller Island manages to avoid coming across as an attempt to be wacky and ‘off-the-wall’ by virtue of the taste, imagination and  humour on display throughout – one of the rooms is even designed as a replica of a padded cell. Oh, the irony.

The Commune by the Great Wall, Beijing
Opened in October 2002, this exclusive complex of 11 villas forms a private collection of living architecture, specially commissioned by a collection of prominent Asian architects.  Developed by husband and wife team Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin at SOHO China, the pared-down crisp design creates simple lines that beautifully frame the surrounding mountain landscape and the Great Wall.

A total of 46 rooms are currently open and once the second phase of construction is completed, this number will grow to 265. Guests are provided with room service, private butler service, a Club House concierge and a dedicated meetings concierge. There is also a communal  Club House offering a courtyard restaurant, lounge, swimming pool, gallery, private cinema and a library, attired in peacock feathers. A private path from the property also gives guests direct access to the Great Wall.

Offering not just a hotel stay, but an other-worldly ‘architectural experience’ has already garnered The Commune by the Great Wall international recognition. The project won a special prize at the 2002 Biennale di Venezia, establishing it as a showcase for contemporary Chinese and Asian architecture. Condé Nast Traveler named the hotel among the ‘100 Hot Hotels in the World’ in 2004 and Tatler Travel Guide ranked the hotel among the ‘10 best Boutique Hotels’ in 2005. As China becomes increasingly prominent on the world stage, the serene, stylish surroundings of The Commune seem to embody the country’s cultural aspirations and set out an agenda for the West to take notice of. Its clearly working as The Commune’s notoriety recently attracted well known cultural authority Jennifer ‘Jenny from the Block’ Lopez to throw a party at the hotel. If that’s not a barometer of cutting edge style and class then I don’t know what is.