|
Newsletters
|
|
|
|
|
|
WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
Aruba Wireless Networks Delivers Painless Wi-Fi to Sharp Healthcare
SAN JOSE, Calif., July 19 -- Aruba Wireless Networks(TM) (Aruba) today announced that Sharp HealthCare (Sharp®), a leading health care system in California, has deployed its wireless LAN (WLAN) switching system to provide centrally managed, enterprise-wide mobility services to some 11,000 employees as well as innovative new mobile devices such as Wi-Fi equipped intravenous (IV) pumps.
In addition to implementing a centralized security architecture for their wireless infrastructure, Sharp is leveraging the Aruba system to secure open wired network connections.
Sharp, an early adopter and veteran user of wireless LAN technology, is undertaking a system-wide migration to a centralized wireless architecture from Aruba to streamline the deployment and ongoing management of its entire wireless environment. Sharp estimates that the move to centralized wireless will lower operational costs, currently associated with its existing distributed wireless LAN, by up to 80 percent.
"Beyond operational improvements, wireless is having profound impact on improving the patient experience," said Mark Wiesenberg, director of Strategic Architectures at Sharp HealthCare. "It's truly moving us into a new era of health care."
"We have wireless-enabled intravenous (IV) pumps that automatically gather essential medication information from a central database to ensure the safety of our patients. This allows us to focus more on patient care, rather than administration," said Wiesenberg. Each smart IV medication system is equipped with an 802.11b PCMCIA card that communicates with a central server that stores medication profiles. These profiles are continuously downloaded to each IV pump to ensure no errors in the distribution of medication to patients.
Sharp is also using the wireless environment for bedside charting, electronic medical records, custom pharmacy applications, emergency room admission and ordering, and traditional data center applications.
Securing Open Wired Ports
In addition to securing the wireless network, Sharp is using the Aruba WLAN system to secure open wired ports in conference rooms, lobbies and other open areas.
To protect against viruses and potential misuse of the network, guests connected to open wired ports are challenged to authenticate before receiving network access via a captive portal on the Aruba system. Authenticated users are then provided access to certain resources based on their access policy while non-authenticated users are limited to Internet-only access.
Deployment Details
Sharp currently has 200 third-party "fat" access points installed across its healthcare system to support hundreds of wireless users and devices. As it moves to a centralized wireless architecture, Sharp is doubling the number of APs, adding dedicated RF monitors and introducing 802.11a services in key areas such as emergency rooms and intensive care units.
Sharp has deployed the Aruba 5000 modular wireless LAN switching system in its data center and dual-purpose Aruba AP 52 access points scattered throughout its hospitals -- creating a seamless WLAN overlay that uses the Cisco L2/L3 IP network as transport. Dedicated gigabit links connect each hospital to Sharp's data center. Sharp plans to deploy Aruba 2400 switches in each hospital for resilience, direct power and serial over Ethernet connectivity and 802.1X support for wired users.
Aruba AP 52s provide Wi-Fi users and devices 802.11a+b/g network access as well as performing RF monitoring functions. This gives Sharp administrators the power to manage the entire RF environment in each hospital from its data center operations. The new Aruba WLAN system lets Sharp more easily manage and better secure its wireless environment from the data center. Sharp administrators now have a full view of and complete control over authenticated users and guests, security and access policies, access point parameters and wireless traffic statistics and packet anomalies.
"Before Aruba we were RF blind, now we can see," said Gary Jenkins, senior network engineer at Sharp HealthCare. "From my desk I can easily capture traffic at any hospital and import it into my traffic analysis application to troubleshoot problems or optimize the wireless network."
Jenkins continued: "Distributed architectures are neither efficient nor economical. In the past, we were forced to manage and troubleshoot our wireless network manually. When wireless problems occurred at a hospital, we literally had to drive to the location, troubleshoot the problem in the hospital, capture wireless traffic, then come back to perform analysis. With the Aruba system, I can now do in minutes what took me at least two hours to do before -- without the traveling or hospital disruption."
From a security perspective, Aruba gives Sharp multiple layers of protection for confidential patient information in compliance with the federal government's Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). With the Aruba system, Sharp provides guests with restricted network access to the Web while staff receives full network access upon authentication to the network.
With Aruba's integrated user-aware firewall, a single SSID can be used to support different users groups, each with different authentication requirements as well as access controls. To simplify management, configuration and administration, multiple VLANs can be mapped to a single SSID.
Moving forward, Sharp is migrating to an 802.1X security model for both its wireless and wired network and plans to leverage Aruba's new RF location and triangulation capabilities to track users and devices in real time.
About Aruba Wireless Networks
Aruba Wireless Networks develops and markets centralized systems that enable corporations to secure their networks from the dual threats of Wi-Fi and mobility. Aruba's solution consists of a full range of programmable security platforms designed to securely connect mobile users and mobile devices to corporate applications. Aruba is privately-held and has operations in the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific and India and employs staff around the world. Aruba has received over $30 million in two rounds of venture funding from top-tier venture firms -- Matrix Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Trinity Ventures. http://www.arubanetworks.com .
About Sharp HealthCare
Sharp HealthCare is an integrated, regional health care delivery system based in San Diego, California. Sharp includes four acute-care hospitals, three specialty hospitals and three medical groups plus a full spectrum of other facilities and services. Serving a population of approximately 3 million in San Diego County, Sharp operates 1,847 beds, has approximately 2,541 physicians on medical staffs, 1,587 physicians in medical groups and more than 11,000 employees. The Sharp system represents $852 million in assets and $1.1 billion in income. http://www.sharp.com
|
|
|
