NetXperts Helps Sutter Health Benefit from New Cisco Wireless Network
November 12, 2003
Sutter Health is one of the leading not-for-profit healthcare organizations in the United States, and its affiliates serve more than 20 Northern California counties from the Oregon border to the San Joaquin Valley and from the Pacific coast to the Sierra foothills. Sutter Santa Cruz an affiliate organization expressed an interest in replacing its wireless network because it needed to expand its coverage area, and because the existing network, a Proxim 802.11 network delivering 1Mbps, was outdated and could not support the voice, video, and data services that the health group was planning to deliver in the future.
For this "re-deployment," Sutter Santa Cruz turned to NetXperts, a Cisco® Premier Partner that is headquartered in San Ramon, California. In addition to its status as a Cisco Premier Partner, NetXperts has earned Cisco Specializations in Wireless, VPN/Security, and IP Telephony. NetXperts has also built expertise in several vertical business markets. The IT solutions provider attributes its success in providing wireless LAN solutions to clients in the healthcare, legal, manufacturing, and financial markets to three things: thorough training of its sales engineers and account managers, engaging new and existing clients early in wireless discussions, and placing a heavy focus on preparation. Currently, NetXperts' healthcare business is particularly strong.
"We've been working with our healthcare clients for many years," says Tom Hagin, vice president, wireless business for NetXperts. "Vendors are designing strong healthcare-specific applications designed to run across the wireless medium. As wireless LANs and WAN technology become more secure and affordable, healthcare organizations are more confident in moving to wireless solutions. We prefer to treat the wireless network as an extension of the wired network, so when organizations choose to move to a wireless network, we are right there with them."
Health Affiliate Chooses NetXperts to Deploy Under New Standards
In the case of Sutter Santa Cruz, no discussion of the merits of a wireless network was necessary-the organization was an early champion of wireless technology. However, its existing wireless network was based on technology that was being phased out of existence by its manufacturer. The Santa Cruz affiliate has 10 locations including eight clinics, a maternity hospital, and a visiting nurses association that would all be affected by the outdated wireless network.
"We had to upgrade our existing wireless network for several reasons," says Charlie Muller, IS manager for Sutter Santa Cruz. "We had security concerns, there were performance issues, and the hardware installed was no longer being manufactured so would become very difficult to maintain." The Santa Cruz affiliate waited for Sutter Health's corporate offices to choose a wireless network standard - they chose Cisco as the vendor standard and LEAP as the security standard. Sutter Santa Cruz decided to delay its own new wireless deployment until another facility was successfully running a wireless network under the new standards. They then felt confident to move forward with wireless deployment at their own facility.
Muller and Hagin had crossed paths earlier while NetXperts was doing projects at other Sutter Health affiliates, and Muller thought the NetXperts team would be a good fit for the new wireless networking project at the Santa Cruz affiliate.
"We wanted a company that had experience in working with other Sutter affiliates and with Sutter security standards so there would be almost no learning curve," says Muller. "NetXperts had experience in the Sutter family and I personally felt that my group would have a very good working relationship with Tom and the NetXperts team. They had the experience I was looking for, they were very organized, and their bid was very competitive."
NetXperts' status as a Cisco Certified Partner also played a role.
"The fact that NetXperts has achieved Cisco Premier Partner status tells me they know the Cisco equipment inside and out, and that they have a very strong relationship with Cisco," says Muller.
NetXperts has been building that relationship with Cisco Systems® since 1997. Hagin says that NetXperts identifies Cisco as a leader in wireless networking, and that he and the NetXperts team feel most comfortable deploying products that have been tried and tested.
"Our reputation hinges on our successful deployments," says Hagin. "We choose Cisco products because we want the networks that we deploy for our clients to work right the first time and Cisco is the leader in that type of thinking."
Wireless Networks Meet Healthcare Environment Demands
The healthcare industry was an early adopter of wireless networks. According to Hagin, the term "bedside computing" became an industry buzzword meaning doctors and nurses want access to clinical applications quickly and efficiently anywhere in the hospital, including at a patient's bedside.
"Patients can be moved often depending on the kind of care they need, and rooms are constantly being upgraded," notes Muller. "A wireless network provides the flexibility for connectivity from anywhere in the facility."
Hagin agrees. "That's what we're seeing," he says. "And the wireless network spirals off into wireless phone systems. The hospitals are really looking at their wireless networks and understanding the other technologies it can support such as IP telephony."
For Sutter Santa Cruz, NetXperts chose the Cisco Aironet® 1200 Series Access Point with 802.11b and the 'rubber duck' antennae. This particular Access Point comes from the factory with 802.11b and can be outfitted with a concurrently operating 802.11a radio, providing what Hagin says is the highest level of flexibility. Hagin says that this Cisco platform is appealing because it's a modular solution and has technical standards for 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. It was also a perfect solution to meet the needs of Sutter Santa Cruz because the technology can take advantage of migration programs to increase capacity, so it can support multiple services deployed at a later date as well as provide high levels of security.
Healthcare Setting Demands Flexible Deployment Schedule
The NetXperts approach to wireless begins with a site survey that when completed, illustrates how the teams will shape the wireless coverage within a facility with the applications that will be used. The final document prepared for Sutter Santa Cruz provides a foundation for how to add on to the existing wireless network with voice and video. Next a project plan is created, but due to the changing nature of daily business at a healthcare facility, the plan must be dynamic.
For instance, Hagin says that the NetXperts team can plan to do the main medical facility first, and then the next closest location. But they have to be prepared for the client to tell them they're being bumped and to come back in the evening.
"One of the challenges of healthcare in general is the dynamic nature of the environment," says Hagin. "The windows of opportunity for physical deployment can be very small because some of the environments cannot take disruption. Patients will always come first and our deployment team cannot be in the way. In an emergency room there's a high level of emotion involved and if it's the wrong day for the emergency room deployment, we better have plan B ready to go so we can deploy finance or something else. Upfront planning is critical and working with healthcare facilities means that a lot of deployment will take place outside of normal business hours."
It's a credit to NetXperts knowledge and experience, then, that Muller calls the Sutter Santa Cruz deployment "flawless." Hagin also credits the synergy between the NetXperts team and Muller's team as important to the project's success.
With its new Cisco wireless network in place, Sutter Santa Cruz is not only benefiting from the dramatically increased coverage area and transport speed, it can also move forward with projects that were on hold due to network restrictions. Performance requirements of critical new applications required more bandwidth than the Proxim devices could deliver.
"The Cisco products deliver more robust coverage, and they are more secure," says Hagin. "Equally as important, the Cisco solution can scale to support multiple services."
"Looking forward, there are relationships between data and voice that we want to deploy in the future, and this new wireless network will enable us to do that," said Muller. "We can deploy a new generation of PCs and are reassured that we have the very best in data security." Muller is looking forward to using wireless phones in the next year or so. "Corporate headquarters is developing a standard for call control," he says. "And no matter what they decide on, we have the wireless infrastructure and radio frequency coverage to move forward."
Sutter Santa Cruz is a perfect example of what Hagin recognizes as a business trend in wireless. "We received our Cisco specialization in wireless about three years ago," he says. "We see network convergence as being more and more of a well-accepted technology in the enterprise, and we lay the foundation for that every day."
