ANTlabs Launches SG Express 5000 at GITEX 2025

Redefining Hospitality Connectivity with Up to 40% Cost Savings

[Singapore, 13 Oct 2025] – ANTlabs, a global leader in hospitality network technology and cloud connectivity solutions, today unveiled the SG Express 5000 Gateway at GITEX Global 2025 in Dubai.

Delivering up to 40% cost savings than previous models, the SG Express 5000 empowers hotel groups and service providers to achieve enterprise-grade performance at a fraction of traditional costs, while finally addressing a long-standing industry gap.

For too long, smaller hospitality properties have been forced to rely on “not-fit-for-purpose” enterprise substitutes like generic firewalls and basic network appliances never designed to meet the specialized demands of guest connectivity, PMS integration, and cloud-based service orchestration.

Now, with the SG Express 5000, ANTlabs delivers a purpose-built solution that combines cost efficiency, performance, and deep hospitality intelligence — completing its world-class SG 5 Gateway product family.

Delivering What the Industry Has Been Asking For

For years, hotel groups and MSPs have asked ANTlabs for a cost-effective, high-performance gateway that delivers enterprise-grade features suited to entry-level and boutique properties.

Now, with the SG Express 5000, ANTlabs proudly delivers exactly that.

This product is the result of a perfect convergence of:

• Advancements in hardware efficiency
• Improvements in cost optimization and scalability
• Deep synergy with ANTlabs’ hybrid cloud architecture

These breakthroughs allow ANTlabs to extend its enterprise-class software and service stack — including cloud management, monetization, and PMS integration — to every hospitality segment, completing its vision of a unified connectivity ecosystem.

“The SG Express 5000 is the culmination of feedback from hotel groups worldwide,” said Teck Kang Toh, CEO of ANTlabs Hospitality BU. “Our goal was to create a high-performance gateway that smaller hotels could deploy confidently, with the same reliability, integration, and cloud intelligence enjoyed by larger properties.”

A Model for Every Hospitality Segment — Now Complete

The launch of the SG Express 5000 finalizes ANTlabs’ comprehensive suite of gateways, each engineered specifically for hospitality and unified through the ANTlabs Service Platform (ASP) Cloud:

• SG Express 5000 – Purpose-built for entry-level hotels, boutique properties, small venues, and serviced apartments, combining affordability with enterprise-grade capability.
• SG Express 5100 – Designed for small to medium-sized properties, delivering robust performance and scalability for mid-tier operations.
• SG Express 5200 – Optimized for 4- and 5-star properties, providing enhanced throughput and premium features for top-tier environments.
• SG Pro 5400 – Built for large integrated resorts, convention centers, and airports, supporting the highest capacity and redundancy requirements.

Together, these models form a complete, cloud-managed product lineup enabling hotel groups and managed service providers (MSPs) to deliver consistent guest experiences across all property tiers.

Purpose-Built for Hospitality, Backed by Cloud Intelligence

The SG Express 5000 integrates seamlessly with the ANTlabs Service Platform (ASP) Cloud, enabling centralized configuration, analytics, and service control across all sites.

Key Highlights:

• Up to 40% cost savings vs. comparable gateway models
• Full ASP Cloud integration for centralized management and analytics
• 40+ supported PMS integrations, including legacy serial systems
• Advanced QoS, policy control, and user management for optimized guest experiences
• Flexible new licensing models, including cost-effective non-shared options
• Wi-Fi monetization and engagement modules for new revenue opportunities
• Zero-touch provisioning for rapid deployment and reduced operational overhead
  

25 Years of Innovation — Powering Global Hospitality and Beyond

Founded on 15 October 1999, ANTlabs marks its 26th anniversary during GITEX 2025, a fitting milestone as the company unveils its newest innovation in the same week it began its journey.  Over the past quarter-century, ANTlabs has pioneered network and service innovation, empowering millions of digital experiences daily across more than 50 countries, trusted by hotel groups, telecommunications operators, and managed service providers worldwide.

“As we celebrate 26 years of innovation, ANTlabs continues to look ahead,” said Wee Tuck Teo, Group CEO, ANTlabs. “Our vision extends beyond hospitality – we’re advancing Next Generation Networking solutions for public carriers and private network operators through our service platforms powered by our proven Tru’IP DDI and Tru’Auth AAA technologies, enabling secure, scalable, and reliable performance in sophisticated and demanding service environments. At the same time, we’re bringing innovations that help hotel operators enhance operational efficiency and elevate guest experiences. The SG Express 5000 completes our gateway lineup and represents another step in building a global platform that unites connectivity, intelligence, and service excellence across industries.”

About ANTlabs

ANTlabs Pte Ltd is a Singapore-based technology innovator delivering Next Generation Networking (NGN), cloud management, and hospitality connectivity solutions worldwide.

Founded in 1999, ANTlabs has evolved into a global provider of carrier-grade and hospitality-first platforms that integrate hardware, software, and services into one cohesive ecosystem.

Its portfolio includes:

• Hospitality Connectivity Solutions – SG 5 Gateway Product Family with ANTlabs Service Platform (ASP) Cloud
• Guest Experience & Engagement Modules – including ANTlabsEzProfile, ANTlabsEzCast, and ANTlabs Personal Area Network (PAN) for personalized and secure in-room experiences
• Next Generation Networking (NGN) Solutions – Tru’IP for carrier-grade IP service delivery and Tru’AUTH for secure authentication and AAA management, both enabling fixed broadband, wireless connectivity, and digital services business models for carriers and operators, Large Venues and Transportation Hubs
• Professional & Managed Services – consulting, deployment, integration, and cloud orchestration for hotel groups, ISPs, and system integrators

SG 5 Update #13

This update adds the following:  

   – PMS System Compatibility: Resolved an issue that caused non-web-based PMS systems to stop functioning correctly.

   – HA Failover Performance: Fixed a problem on some SG 5200 deployments where failover took longer than expected.

   – LDAP Authentication Fix: Addressed an issue where admin GUI login via LDAP authentication failed when the LDAP server used LDAP_OPT_REFERRALS.

   – Account Expiry Issue: Fixed a bug where user accounts created through the account printer expired immediately after creation. 

Note: This update shall also update the HA peer node without having to failover, provided the HA peer node is already patched up to Update 12.
So, you would need to ensure that both HA nodes are patched up to Update 12 and then apply Update 13 to take advantage of this feature (automatic patching of HA peer without failing over). 

Release Date: 22 Apr 2025
PackageName:13.SG5000_base-sys-hotfix-20250417-01.pkg
MD5 Checksum:65d6cecab6ed043ebedba6642a2c262b
File size: 6.6 MB

SG 5 Update #12

This update adds the following:

     – Updated 10GE Network Driver: Enhanced compatibility and performance for SG 5200 and IG 4210S models. Note: manual reboot is required for the updated driver to take effect.

     – Fixed SSL Certificate Recognition Issue: Resolved a problem where the system failed to recognize the custom SSL certificate if its domain name contained uppercase letters.

     – Resolved Admin GUI Access Blockage: Fixed the issue where a rare race condition could prevent access to the admin GUI.

Release Date: 3 Apr 2025
PackageName: 12.SG5000_base-sys-hotfix-20250402-01.pkg
MD5 Checksum: 15a7c9c4ff6a42c5d926cbb1986bab05
File size: 318 KB

SG 4 Update #52

Update Release No. 52
Release Date: 20 Mar 2025
Update File Name: 52.SG4000_base-hotfix-certificate-20250217-01.pkg
MD5 Checksum: 675e1970f4b944cb095dd334f345c34b

IG 4 Update #52

Update Release No. 52
Release Date: 20 Mar 2025
Update File Name: 52.IG4000_base-hotfix-certificate-20250217-01.pkg
MD5 Checksum: 33c6a0dbc4a4812770e6fb970c9567fe

SG 5 Update #11

This update adds the following enhancements:

• Downstream login
• Credit Card Authentication – support for more payment gateways:
• Cybersource Unified Checkout
• Note: ASP 2.0.6 is required to support this.
• Bank of Maldives Connect API
• Note: ASP 2.0.3 is required.
• PMS Authentication – new support for Mews PMS
• Bigger fonts and clearer instructions to guide user to switch to Safari for social media login (Facebook, Google) on iOS devices
• Note: this Safari-switching feature has been available at the Admin GUI > Authentication > Settings

• Update ezxcess.antlabs.com SSL certificate – new expiry in February 2026

• New dashboard.now for downstream users to view the logged-in success page or the landing page before login

• PMS-related enhancements
• New diagnostics page for Shiji Cloud PMS
• Guest information check based on room code
• Posting
• With SkyTouch /CONNECT PMS (Events Webhook), the gateway’s web API shall accept any Content-Type header beginning with application/json

• Add Sync Now feature to Date & Time settings page to allow the admin user to have system time synced up with the NTP server immediately

• System Log enhancement
• Remote syslog enhancement
• New option to use TCP connection to the remote server
• New option to use RFC 3339 date/time format, e.g. 2025-12-31T23:59:59+02:00
• New option to customize the host name that shows in the log entries

• Support incoming SFTP-mode SCP operations

• CLI enhancements
• Support for | pipe operator to direct stdout of one program to stdin of another
• Hit Tab key for auto-complete of commands, folders and file names
• Many more commands
• New non-elevated mode commands to support troubleshooting
• New supervisor mode commands, including
• mgmt to display/change management port IP settings
• wan to display/change WAN IP settings
• Note: existing CLI sessions will not work properly after applying this update. Please logout of existing CLI sessions and login again to access the new CLI commands.

• Security enhancements:
• Allow Admin GUI’s Remote Access page to optionally configure Ciphers, Key Exchange Algorithms, Message Authentication Codes (MACs)
• Note: OpenSSH configuration format is required for the input. Multiple ciphers must be comma-separated.
• Resolve various SSH vulnerabilities – CVE-2023-48795, CVE-2023-51385, CVE-2024-6387
• Prevent after-login downstream web proxy access to management network
• Prevent management port IP from appearing in the output of a downstream traceroute to an upstream IP
• Web proxy (used by HTTPS domain walled garden) upgrade to include CVE-2023-25076 vulnerability fix
• Prevent revealing of web server version via a web-accessible file

• Performance enhancements:
• Upgrade web server and tune its per-client connection and request rate limits
• Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) stapling for custom SSL certificate so user checking the certificate’s validity gets a faster response

• Admin GUI enhancements:
• Display configured web-filter profile number when viewing plan via ASP page’s View Plans
• Remove checks that are not needed from Go-live System Checks

• Applying consistency across the various product models
• 15 plan-based relogin zones
• 30 event locations

• Other system component updates:
• Client manager update to stop performing legacy license check on startup
• New scan_data API to open camera to scan boarding pass or passport and scan_add to post up to ASP the data that has been scanned
• Note: ASP 2.0.6 is required to accept the data from scan_add and show in reports
• Update auth_logout API and login session manager module to support sending up the session termination cause to ASP
• auth_logout now supports a new optional termination_reason input that accepts any of the RFC 2866-defined Acct-Terminate-Cause code values
• account_add API to return a more informative error message when account already exists
• social_init API to return an error for Instagram. Instagram has deprecated its login API since December 2024 so the ANTlabs gateway can no longer support Instagram login as a downstream authentication method.
• Update NTP client to update hardware clock whenever date/time is set via NTP

*This update includes the following fixes:

• Downstream-related issues
• Multi-WAN load balancing-related issues
• Client manager issues
• ASP settings sync issues
• Admin GUI issues
• CLI fixes
• API fixes
• Fix report-related issues
• Lawful intercept fix
• Fix some gateways having wrong QoS setup
• Other system component fixes

*Note: You may check the full details of the updates in the Partner Portal under the Product Update & Patches tab, inside the SG 5 Patch Release/Technical Notes folder.

This update does not automatically reboot the gateway. The enhancements and fixes take effect upon applying the update. Admin GUI updates require relogin to the GUI to see the new changes.

Release Date: 17 March 2025
PackageName: 11.SG5000_base-sys-bulk05-20240910-01.pkg
MD5 Checksum: 7865661b1fea441adf3d7287a548bde8 (updated 19 Mar 2025)
File size: 115 MB

SG 5 Update #10

This update adds the following enhancements:

  – Kernel upgrade
      • Better performance
      • Enhanced support for vSG
            • VMXNET3 paravirtual network driver support
            • Updated drivers for passthrough compatibility with more network card hardware

  – Client manager upgrade
      • IP conflict event to include target IP address (typically the client’s gateway address) for informed troubleshooting
      • IP conflict events caused by gratuitous ARP not to trigger arpdIpConflictTrap SNMP trap
      • Handle ARP packet with both IP and VLAN location change

  – Removed bootloader serial I/O for the hardware gateway appliances
      • Prevent PMS serial traffic from pausing the boot cycle

This update fixes the issue where TM, the epoch timestamp field, in the lawful intercept log is always zero.

On successful application of this update, the gateway will reboot automatically.

Release Date: 17 March 2025
Update File Name:10.SG5000_base-sys-kernel-20240829-01.pkg
MD5 Checksum: cab736b61506fc2b0ae446e307c23660
File size: 73 MB

Seamless Wi-Fi on the Seven Seas:

ANTlabs Powers Elcome and Starlink Partnership

The maritime industry has long struggled with delivering reliable, high-speed internet at sea. In an era where staying connected is vital for quality of life at sea, Elcome International, a leading maritime systems integrator, partnered with SpaceX’s Starlink to offer a revolutionary satellite broadband service. At the core of this solution is ANTlabs’ SG5 Gateway and ASP Cloud Wi-Fi Services Management platform, enabling seamless connectivity and advanced bandwidth controls that are powerful and flexible for maritime vessels worldwide.

The Challenge

Providing internet connectivity at sea has traditionally been an expensive and limited endeavor. Maritime operators faced challenges such as:

• High Costs: Legacy systems imposed high fees on operators and users, restricting widespread access.
• Limited User Control: Absence of robust tools for bandwidth management, prepaid systems, or volume tracking caused inefficiencies.
• Poor User Experience: Frequent connectivity interruptions and lack of roaming capabilities frustrated users.
• Fragmented Solutions: With various Wi-Fi vendors providing access points across fleets, operators needed a unified platform capable of integrating diverse systems seamlessly.

To address these, Elcome required a robust backend solution that could pair with Starlink’s low-latency satellite service. ANTlabs delivered the critical components to make this a reality.

The Solution: ANTlabs’ Role

Elcome launched its groundbreaking “WELCOME” internet service in mid-2024, powered by Starlink’s satellite technology and ANTlabs’ Wi-Fi Services infrastructure. Officially unveiled during a press release in Dubai, the service represents a milestone for maritime connectivity with availability in all international waters and territorial waters of 70 countries. The service boasts bandwidth of up to 350 Mbps and average latency below 99ms.

ANTlabs’ Contributions

1. SG5 Gateways: High-performance gateway devices connecting onboard users to the Starlink satellite network. Robust security and seamless integration with Elcome’s maritime systems.
2. ASP Wi-Fi Services Management Platform:

• Prepaid Internet Plans: Enables users to purchase data bundles or subscriptions at prices starting from $3, ensuring cost-effective access.
• Efficient Volume Tracking and Analytics: Operators and users alike benefit from data updates every minute, ensuring near real-time monitoring
• Roaming Capabilities: Users can retain their data plans when switching vessels.
• Payment Gateway Integration: Offers seamless online payment options.  Multiple payment options make access simple and stress-free, including seamless Stripe payment integration to ensure safe and secure transactions at sea.

What sets ANTlabs apart is its unique combination of deep R&D expertise and proven leadership in delivering connectivity solutions for hospitality and telecommunications industries. With over two decades of innovation, ANTlabs has been a trusted partner for hotel groups, Telcos, and ISPs, delivering scalable, user-centric solutions that set industry standards. Applying this extensive experience to the maritime sector has enabled ANTlabs to solve complex connectivity challenges with unmatched reliability and flexibility.

These solutions form the backbone of WELCOME’s service delivery, providing connectivity to over 1,500 vessels by late 2024, with plans for thousands more in 2025.

Impact and Results

Since its launch, WELCOME has significantly improved the quality of internet access for crew members at sea:

• Enhanced Crew Welfare: Crew members enjoy consistent, high-speed connectivity to stay in touch with family, access entertainment, and participate in online learning.
• Roaming Benefits: With WELCOME, crew members can use the data they purchase on one WELCOME-equipped vessel on another, ensuring seamless connectivity as they move between ships.
• Collaborative Opportunities: Elcome plans to partner with content and service providers to extend the reach of their products via WELCOME, further enriching the crew’s experience.

Voices from the Frontline

“We are excited to introduce WELCOME, a game-changing maritime internet service that will revolutionize how ships and offshore installations stay connected at sea.” – Asneed Ameer, Senior Manager Connectivity at Elcome (Elcome International).

Key Features at a glance

• High-Speed Internet: With bandwidth of up to 350 Mbps and average latency below 99ms, the WELCOME service ensures efficient communication and data transfer at sea.
• Flexible Payment Options: Affordable and customizable prepaid plans starting at $3 cater to diverse user needs.
• Roaming Across Vessels: Seamless connectivity for crew members who frequently change ships, ensuring they stay connected as they move.
• Global Coverage: The service is available in all international waters and the territorial waters of over 70 countries.
• Enhanced Crew Experience: Partnerships with content and service providers will offer additional benefits, extending access to entertainment, education, and more.
• Vendor Agnostic: Seamlessly integrates with diverse Wi-Fi access solutions, enabling broad scalability across fleets.

Conclusion

ANTlabs is proud to have provided the technological foundation behind Elcome’s WELCOME service, combining advanced satellite capabilities with user-centric features. By enabling high-speed internet access, cost-effective prepaid models, and real-time management tools, ANTlabs empowers Elcome to redefine personal connectivity at sea. As the rollout continues across thousands of vessels, ANTlabs remains committed to driving innovation and supporting the maritime industry’s digital transformation. With unmatched R&D capabilities and a proven track record of solving connectivity challenges, ANTlabs stands as the technology leader uniquely equipped to deliver global-scale solutions that enhance the onboard experience for crew and passengers alike.

Full disclosure: This article was written with a little help from AI—think of it as having Lt. Data from the Starship Enterprise assist with the writing. Seamless, precise, and a bit futuristic—just like the Wi-Fi we’re rolling out across the Seven Seas!