Improving healthcare outcomes while containing costs

A Regional Medical provider that offers specialized care for pediatric illnesses selected AboveNet’s managed network services to provide connectivity between their two hospital locations and their primary & secondary data centers. 

Business Need:  
The Regional Medical provider wanted a custom network solution that was purpose built to provide the highest level of security, redundancy and provide future scalability.  The provider will be exchanging patient data & operational data across their network and wanted to ensure the data is both secure and recoverable.  The Regional Medical provider was using a SONET/TDM network to connect their two hospitals and primary & secondary data centers.  The provider was running out of capacity and wanted to move from a shared network to a private network.  In addition the Regional Medical provider needed a network that would handle multiple network protocols in order to support their applications for Ethernet or storage.

HIPAA and Sarbanes Oxley coupled with the demand to reduce their overall network operating expenses were important driving factors for the provider.

Regional Medical Applications for the network:
Clinical system software, Electronic Medical Records, billing records, live telemedicine, storage applications, i.e.: Radiology and Magnetic Resonance Imaging records.

Why the Regional Medical provider Chose AboveNet? 
The provider selected AboveNet because of our ability to deliver a private Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM) network that would provide greater security, scalability & flexibility than their previous SONET/TDM network provider.   The custom WDM network enabled them to consolidate multiple circuits onto one or multiple wave lengths which reduced their overall cost for bandwidth by 25-30%.  Also the costs to add additional wave lengths to increase capacity are 40-50% lower than their previous provider.  

AboveNet Solution:    
AboveNet designed a Wave Division Multiplexing multi-node network that interconnects their main hospitals and primary & secondary data centers across a private network.  The network was a ring topology design that leveraged AboveNet’s expertise in WDM to provide the highest availability, scalability, and privacy for the customer’s network.  In addition the Regional Medical provider had multiple network protocols: Ethernet, SONET/TDM & FibreChannel to support the communication between their different facilities.  AboveNet was able to deliver the network protocols mentioned above in their native format which means less complexity for the provider.

AboveNet Service Benefits:
The Regional Medical provider was able to reduce their overall network operations costs by reducing their current cost per mbps & cost for future bandwidth while still having room to add capacity as their needs change. AboveNet’s WDM solution enables the provider to add additional capacity to their network at a fraction of the cost of TDM/SONET services and send Ethernet & storage protocols in their native format.  These benefits translate to a lower cost per Mbps and greater network simplicity to their IT organization.

About AboveNet, Inc.
AboveNet, Inc. provides high bandwidth connectivity solutions for business and carriers. Its private optical network delivers key network and IP services in and among top U.S. and European markets. AboveNet's network is widely used in demanding markets such as financial services, media, health care, retail and government.