Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX global speaks about what technology can do for the hospitality industry in the near future.

It has taken the pandemic for the hospitality industry to realise the true potential of technology and the virtual world when it comes to business. ETHospitalityWorld spoke with Ivo Ivanov, the Germany-based CEO of DE-CIX (pronounced dee-kicks) Global— the largest internet exchange in the world.

“DE-CIX operates platforms, for interconnection of different types of networks, cloud networks, content networks like TV streaming networks, video on demand networks, collaborative work applications, networks, of course, gaming networks, as well as all of the excess networks, like 5g networks, small ISP, and fiber. We have started to see a new type of participants on the different platforms, mainly enterprises,” Ivanov said, explaining what his company does.

Ivanov firmly believed that the hospitality industry would benefit from digitization in the future extremely well, for which they would need to do the right homework to be able to create the right balance. Benefiting from digitalisation would also require getting involved into infrastructure. And this is where his company would be of use.

“We offer different services on the platform which have something in common—the direct interconnection between the application and the hospitality organisation network. Without intermediate without any hubs. This reduces the latency dramatically. If we talk about applications, like live streaming, virtual or augmented reality applications, they’re so sensitive on the performance side, they don’t like huge latency, they want to be extremely performable is the physical interaction on the traffic flow is very solid and stable in this requires the shortest path, and we deliver the fabric solution for this path.

“It’s also about security. The more direct the interconnection is between the application between the cloud computing instance, between the traffic delivery source and the hospitality network at the other end, the lower the risk for attacks, the lower the risk for men in the middle, IP hijacking and so on,” he explained.

The potential for what the hospitality industry could do using virtual tools was immense, he said, “The hospitality business is a very physical one. To be honest, you cannot enjoy a digital swimming pool. People want to swim—but the hospitality company can digitally influence this decision of the guests. Virtualizing the selection of different hotels in advance, giving the potential guest, a chance to experience the features of a hotel resort as well as use it to stay in touch with them are advantageous,” he said adding that both virtual as well as augmented reality platforms require solid infrastructure, which is something that needs to be invested in.

“I love to say that in the future, the experience of the five-star hotel will start in the datacenter—will start in our fabric using the solid infrastructure. Because as the hospitality companies want to impress the guests, they will want to start this in advance in the digital world,” he concluded.