Southern Health Board Selects Enterasys’ Roamabout Wireless To Facilitate Mobile Bedside Learning For Sick Children
Enterasys’ Mobility Solution Further Utilised to Enhance Communication Between Partner Hospitals within Southern Ireland
Contact:
Annmarie Dickson
International Public Relations Manager
Enterasys Networks
+44 1635 810723
adickson@enterasys.com
NEWBURY, ENGLAND-- April 27, 2001--Enterasys NetworksTM, a leader in secure, available and mobile enterprise communications solutions, today announced that the Southern Health Board (S.H.B.) —a health authority and service provisioner for hospitals within Southern Ireland—has selected its 802.11b RoamAboutTM wireless solution for key hospitals throughout Cork and Kerry, Southern Ireland. The mobile wireless solution is utilised via laptop computers to support Ireland’s first “virtual classroom,” contained within the children’s ward of the central site—Cork University Hospital—and installed to allow sick children to continue their education from their bedsides.
In turn, through Enterasys’ outdoor RoamAbout wireless solution, the S.H.B. has linked three hospitals within the Cork city area to Cork University Hospital. The multi-site wireless solution ensures centralisation of its patient record system and secure and rapid transfer of medical data, including x-ray images and scans, between hospitals. A further three hospitals are planned to be brought online by summer 2001. The entire solution was selected in association with LAN Communications, a leading Irish Enterasys channel partner.
“For the first time, a child who has to spend weeks or months in the hospital can ‘attend’ their normal classroom by a virtual local area network, accessed and supported via Enterasys’ RoamAbout wireless technology. The student, who is a patient, can see and interact with their normal teacher and fellow classmates, and be seen and heard by them. All this can take place at the patient’s bedside it’s a great working example of technology in action that will hopefully lead to faster recovery rates for the children here,” explained Jim Leahy, IT Manager at the S.H.B.
Mobile wireless access to Cork University Hospital’s wired LAN has been secured through laptops, connected via Enterasys’ IEEE 802.11b RoamAbout Access Cards and Points. Wireless access ensures patients can log on, via the Internet, to its “virtual classroom” direct from their bedsides. The wired LAN also consists of Enterasys’ high-availability networking technology. Utilising its high-performance Matrix E7 switch provides a fully scalable gigabit Ethernet backbone, with edge connectivity provided by Enterasys’ Vertical Horizon switches. The total solution based at the central Cork University Hospital provides secure support of content—medical or educational—in a completely mobile environment.
Linking an additional three hospitals within the area of Southern Ireland has allowed the S.H.B. to begin the centralisation of its patient record system and overall, enhance communication and speed of content transfer between medical staffs in the area. Connectivity from its central site to the additional hospitals has been achieved via Enterasys’ building-to-building RoamAbout solution. High security is assured between sites due to 128-bit encryption technology inherent within both Enterasys’ indoor and outdoor wireless solutions.
“The Enterasys wireless solution enables us to bring a mobile virtual classroom into a hospital environment that is primarily, and fundamentally, concerned with patient care. Wireless laptops provide us the ability to apply IT resources into wards or private rooms, without need for IT support, and that gives us a cost-effective education environment.” said Leahy. “In turn, the building-to-building wireless provides us with cost-effective bandwidth between locations, and has the power to support the varying hospital medical applications that are imperative in this life-critical environment. Wireless shows its true flexibility and power in supporting our internal and external building requirements,” he concluded.
The S.H.B. has future plans for integration of technology, including extending its wireless connectivity to additional hospitals by the summer of 2001, and an aggressive Voice-over-IP roll-out for hospitals, fully integrating all voice, video and data content over an IP infrastructure.
Vice President UK & Ireland for Enterasys Networks, Stefan Michal commented, ““Once again we are seeing the ingenious use of wireless technology to empower IT users in non-traditional environments. Wireless networking can deliver IT to where it’s needed, and taking education to the bedside of children in hospitals demonstrates that mobile learning will further the cause of online education as a valuable learning tool. It pleases me greatly that Enterasys is creating technology and solutions that bring great opportunities for children in education, and especially those that are unable to attend school due to poor health.”
For more information on Enterasys’ complete portfolio please visit www.enterasys.com/solutions.
Enterasys Networks
Enterasys Networks is a new type of company that combines a single market focus with a strong technology heritage to provide communications infrastructures for enterprise-class customers. Enterasys' networking hardware and software offerings deliver the innovative security, availability and mobility solutions required by Global 2000 organizations coupled with the industry's strongest service and support. Based in Rochester, New Hampshire, Enterasys is backed by Silver Lake Partners and Cabletron Systems (NYSE: CS), and was named a "Company to Watch in 2001" by CIO Magazine. For more information, visit enterasys.com.The Southern Health Board
The Southern Health Board’s area of healthcare responsibility is the South West Region of Ireland, incorporating the counties of Cork and Kerry. With an overall population of 546,400 in the region, it’s perhaps one of the most varied of areas, encompassing populous urban areas such as Cork City with approximately 250,000 citizens, average size towns of 5,000 to 15,000 people and small rural villages and islands with residents of between 50 and 300 people.Provision of Acute Hospital care in the region is based at two primary centres, Cork University Hospital, a high-tech Class One Trauma Centre, and Tralee General Hospita. Both are supported by two smaller general hospitals at Bantry and Mallow. There is also a network of 21 community Hospitals, which provide local health support services to the community.
LAN Communications
Please visit www.Lancomm.ie