MCH Odessa Deploys Gigabit Wireless Network for Future IoT

December 09, 2016 - Medical Center Health (MCH) Odessa, has deployed an Aruba gigabit wireless network with ClearPass to serve their 400+ bed regional medical center to improve network efficiency and prepare for Internet of Things initiatives.

MCH Odessa includes a broad range of medical services including a trauma center, regional hospital, a teaching hospital, and a health care system that includes satellite outpatient services and integrated physician services.

MCH Odessa sought to upgrade their network to provide a more mobile work environment to increase clinician productivity and flexibility and improve patient experience. MCH Odessa required a wireless solution to support their cloud-based EHR system and virtual desktop environment.

MCH Odessa also IoT initiatives planned for medical devices and personnel tracking and needed to implement a wireless solution to handle the predicted changes to their IT infrastructure due to the IoT.

The organization worked with CJ communications and conducted a Proof of Concept (POC) and determined that Aruba’s gigabit wireless solution would meet their current and future wireless needs. A POC is conducted when an organization brings a potential vendor’s product into their IT infrastructure environment to determine if it will meet the current and future needs of their environment.

“We were impressed with how Aruba handled everything, from implementation to management to the security aspects of the network,” said Brad Shook, Director of IT Operations for MCH Odessa. “With our current need to address a variety of mobile and medical devices on the network and our planned IoT initiatives, securing all of these devices as we onboard them is crucial. The Aruba network gives us the foundation we need now and as we move forward with our IoT plans.”

MCH Odessa deployed Aruba 802.11ac access points, Aruba Mobility Controllers, AirWave network management, and ClearPass Guest and Policy Manager.

Gigbit or WiGig wireless WiGig goes beyond standard dual-band 802.11ac technology by enabling the use of a third 60GHz band. The WiGig band allows extremely high frequency transmissions by directing data into a wider channel. When too many transmissions are fighting to go through from constantly connected devices, users experience disrupted connections which slows down their retrieval of information.

As healthcare organizations increasingly deploy resources to the cloud, the success of those cloud deployments depends on wireless speed and reliability. BYOD and IoT devices along with  virtualization solutions put more pressure on wireless networks. MCH Odessa is currently using virtualized desktops and plans to deploy IoT solutions in the future, which drove their need to an advanced wireless solution that can support new technology as it’s brought on.

“We want to give all users the ability to use their tablet or whatever mobile device they have to securely pull up a virtual desktop – whether through Citrix or just accessing the apps they need directly,” said Gary Barnes,Senior Vice President and CIO of MCH Odessa. “Having the Aruba solutions in place will help us move quickly to this mobile-first environment, which will in turn help us meet our goals of greater productivity, iron-clad security for our IoT initiatives and of course, our most important objective, better patient care.”

MCH Odessa plans to focus on improved voice communications, asset tracking to prevent equipment from being lost, stolen or destroyed by mistake, and managing clinical Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

As healthcare organizations continue to implement new technology to improve everyday operations, security, interoperability, and patient care, the more critical it becomes to invest in a wireless network solution that can support all current and future technology simultaneously. 

Dig Deeper:

• New Technologies Require Solid Health IT Infrastructure
• Growth of Medical IoT Devices Supports Healthcare Analytics