Elsewhere around the property you’ll find all of the opulence of Wynn’s Las Vegas neighbors, but when it comes to automation, it’s all about comfort and convenience.
The Evolve System offers intelligent control of the lighting, thermostats and motorized window treatments — all by the push of a button on a tabletop or wall-mounted LCD keypad. There is no need to turn on the television to access an on-screen display, as is the case of some other control systems.
In the Wynn’s case, there is no keycard reader a la the European hotels. Instead, the guest enters the room and presses ALL ON to activate the WELCOME scene. ALL OFF sets the room to an energy-saving state.
In addition to standard control of the lights, thermostats and window coverings, users can select a handful of pre-programmed scenes, such as NIGHTLIGHT.
At this point, the Wynn opted out of audio/video integration, but Evolve left “hooks” in the software in case the hotel decides to add it later, says Rosenthal. Similarly, the Evolve system is not tied into any back-end hotel services at this time.
Wynn Evolves with Z-Wave
Evolve uses Z-Wave RF technology for automation, which has resulted in some customers reporting up to a 40 percent savings. Apparently, the Wynn is the largest Z-Wave installation ever, with more than 65,000 wireless nodes.
Typically, the low-cost Z-Wave mesh networking solution is deployed in relatively small, self-contained homes. But Evolve was “not in the slightest bit concerned” about using it in a multiroom high-rise, according to Rosenthal. “Z-Wave is up to the task if the software is properly engineered, and we have properly engineered it.”
To eliminate potential cross-talk between rooms, Evolve assigned unique house codes to each setup. Typically, a Z-Wave system automatically generates its own addresses, leaving a very slight possibility of overlap between otherwise discrete systems.
There is no central controller in the Evolve scenario. Instead, all of the intelligence — including every preprogrammed scene — is contained in each Z-Wave device. “Every device in the room can talk to every other device elsewhere equally, without concern of cross-talk between rooms,” Rosenthal says.
Lessons of Little Guys
In the past two years, Evolve has made strides in basic energy management for the hotel industry, but the Wynn job was a huge multi-system triumph for the relative newcomer.
As a former integrator, Rosenthal advises young companies, “Don’t be afraid of the big guys, just because you’re the new kid on the block.”
For this particular job, Evolve was invited to submit a bid fairly late in the game.
“Yes, we had connections in the hospitality industry, but no inside track,” Rosenthal notes. “We invested heavily in winning. We didn’t just fill out the paper work.”
Evolve created prototypes of new products specifically designed for the Wynn project, and set up very tailored demonstrations based on the hotel’s requirements.
“The competition was fierce, but fortunately for us, Wynn kept an open mind and focused on the functionality of our system instead of the reputation of our competitors,” says Rosenthal. “We li
stened to their requests, had numerous conversations about the exact preferences and features required, and created a customized solution to fit their needs.”
