This blog post was originally posted on October 26, 2018 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness. 

Our customers and partners experienced exceptional growth this year, pushing our platform further than ever before. ElevenOS now provisions over 100 million authentications per month, putting us at a run rate of over 1 billion authentications annually. That’s 1 billion times that our platform will enable people to stay connected to the people, places, and things that matter most to them. A fact we’re incredibly proud of.

People today expect to be connected always and everywhere; sometimes it's hard to believe that there was a world before smartphones and Wi-Fi. In the time since Wi-Fi became ubiquitous in hotels, apartments, and public spaces, it has fueled the evolution of connectivity in a lot of ways. Just like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the most basic needs start at the bottom, and you can't get to the next level without a strong foundation. 

Last week some of our team members joined hospitality's brightest minds to talk technology at the HT-NEXT conference in San Diego. We engaged in meaningful conversations, attended informative sessions, and came home with several great insights about how hotel brands develop their Wi-Fi strategy for today—and tomorrow.

Last week, several of our team members attended the HT-NEXT event in Orlando—a first-time collaboration of HTNG North America and Hotel Technology Forum. The event brought together hospitality technology thought leaders and included information from the Central Authentication workgroup presented by our very own VP of Product, Eric Sullender. When our team came home from the conference, the office was a buzz with all the exciting discussions, learnings and sessions, so we wanted to share our key insights as they relate to the future of guest Wi-Fi.