The soon to open McCune-Brooks Hospital in Carthage has deployed wireless LAN (WLAN)-based voice/data infrastructure throughout the hospital using the Siemens (News - Alert) HiPath Wireless mobile communications platform.

 

The hospital plans to implement its converged voice/data infrastructure in two phases. The first phase will be concentrating, according to hospital, on data access capabilities, and Siemens Communications will be designing and installing a fixed data network from 3Com (News - Alert), a qualified Siemens partner. In addition, a WLAN comprising a Siemens HiPath Wireless C20 Controller will be managing 27 HiPath Wireless Access Points (APs), installed in optimized locations throughout the hospital.

 

Hospital officials stated that to ensure data integrity, safeguard patient data privacy and provide the protection against unwarranted wireless intrusions, McCune-Brooks will also deploy the HiPath HiGuard security module.

 

“The HiPath Wireless solution will give us pervasive WiFi access everywhere in the hospital, so nurses, doctors and other medical personnel can access patient information and each other more quickly to help resolve patient issues faster and more effectively,” Bob Fitzpatrick, Director of Support Services at McCune-Brooks Hospital, said in a press release.

 

Fitzpatrick pointed out that to provision fixed communications in patient rooms, treatment areas and offices, the hospital is going to install 400 Siemens optiPoint telephones, which will be supported by a Siemens HiPath 4000 HiPath Real-Time IP communications solution. In addition, McCune-Brooks will introduce wireless voice capabilities for selected staff members with additional wireless telephones from SpectraLink, another longstanding Siemens partner.

 

“To the hospital, we all became a single entity, making it easier for them to do business and get everything they needed. We brought the breadth of required expertise to deliver the necessary consultancy and affordability they were looking for,” commented Jeffrey Forbes, vice president of Healthcare Solutions at Siemens Communications, Inc.

 

Fitzpatrick expected that the HiPath Wireless network segmentation capabilities will let McCune-Brooks’ network administrators easily deploy separate and secure virtual networks for patients, medical professionals and other hospital staff. “The open architecture of the Siemens HiPath portfolio has been of great value to us in helping to converge both voice and data, as well as our fixed and mobile networks,” remarked Fitzpatrick.