North Sydney-based Entertainment Media & Telecoms Corporation (EMT) has won a $14 million deal to roll out a digital entertainment system to more than 25 Rydges Hotels across the Asia Pacific region.

The deal, that includes the installation of a video on demand service and well as Internet and hospitality services, follows a successful trial of the system at Rydges Parramatta Hotel.

EMT will orchestrate the rollout of the Intrigue multimedia systems from General Dynamics, for which it is the Asia-Pacific channel partner. The system uses a video server that delivers digital video on demand through a set top box connected to a TV in the hotel room. It means users can pause, rewind, or bookmark a film they have purchased and watch it in their own time. Hotel patrons will also be able to view an itemised bill from their stay - or even check out - from the privacy of their own hotel room.

“The process took the better part of two years,” EMT chief technology officer, Richard Street, said. “We looked at a number of different technologies and all were found wanting. It wasn’t until we looked at the Intrigue system that we found what we were after.”

The project is the first of its kind in Australia.

EMT is the lynchpin for the implementation, bringing together a host of vendors and specialist partners including Extreme Networks for Ethernet switching solutions and Sydney-based Syndeticom for cabling services.

“One of the most important things is getting the cabling right,” Street said. “You need very aggressive, pro-active project management. And you have to make sure the switching architecture is up to scratch. They key to the success of a project like this is the strength and reliability of the backbone network – that’s why we partnered with Extreme Networks.”

EMT hopes to take the system to other hotels across the Asia Pacific region.

“We are extremely active in Asia - we’ve just opened a Singapore office and we are on the verge of signing a 180-hotel deal with another 20 in the pipeline,” chief marketing officer, Kelly Sides, said.

“The company started looking at this space around two years ago. Our initial intention was to develop the technology ourselves, but we realised it would be better to licence the technology from General Dynamics.”