High Tech & Design: VDA, the Italian way

In the past two years we have been developing or revisiting the existing technology of room management systems… the visible part of the technology used by the guest in the room. The Vitrum product line, our new generation of control devices for the hotel rooms and the residential buildings was created. It’s quite an interesting product line, because you have total customisation in terms of colours. We have white, black, grey or silver and can be customised to the architect’s request.

How did you get the idea to branch into this kind of “artistic” venture?

Because we wanted to make technology more pleasant for the user. We called a very famous architect in the hospitality sector in Italy – Marco Piva – and we designed this product line together. What is interesting with Vitrum is that everybody likes it. We have developed two different standards, the so-called British

standard, which is a square shape, and the European standard, which is rectangular. We did this in such a way that it was possible to be backward compatible with all the hotels that already use our room management systems.

Hotels are putting more emphasis on design and creating atmosphere and emotions. Glass is the new material. It was not easy to industrialise this product, but the result is interesting. So to say that the Micromanager room management system together with Vitrum, is today one of the most flexible and powerful integrated automation systems for the hospitality business.

Hoteliers are becoming much more concerned about energy consumption… this must help you sell your products…

Yes, because Vitrum technology has a dimmer embedded not just a switch and this is perfectly compatible with the latest generation of LED lights. We are working with Philips on this and are also proposing “re-lamping”: an energy scan and a proposition to replace the existing lights with new-generation lights, offering financial services if they cannot afford to pay up-front. The cost is covered by ROI generally less than two years, and the lamp life is much longer.