The Sacco Hospital of Milan Standardizes on Brocade IP Solutions to Increase Security and Performance

GENEVA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Brocade^® (Nasdaq:BRCD) today announced that Sacco Hospital of Milan has deployed Brocade BigIron and FastIron switches as part of a network upgrade in order to manage increased data traffic and implement new services such as VoIP and a wider range of network-supported applications, i.e. delivering digital X-rays to patient bedsides.

“After following a short course, my people are able to carry out all inspections and address any issues independently, which has made our lives easier”

Established in 1931, the “Ospedale Luigi Sacco” occupies more than 137,000 square meters in the northern part of Milan, Italy. Although the original structure has been preserved, the hospital has undergone significant restructuring and expansion over the years. Today, the hospital is a University hospital, ("Azienda Ospedaliera - Polo Universitario Luigi Sacco") offering full medical degrees from its campus of twenty buildings.

The hospital’s IT department found that demands on the network – in terms of the volume of users and the number of devices – made it necessary to rethink its overall architecture. In addition, next generation clinical services such as delivering X-rays digitally to patient bedsides meant that the existing network was inadequate. With over a thousand network points distributed across such a wide campus, management complexities and the growth in data traffic played a significant role in the decision to upgrade the network.

“During 2008 we began a programme to automate services in clinical departments,” said Giorgio Orsi, Manager of Information Systems at Sacco Hospital. “This resulted in a significant increase in data traffic, as well as greater use of the network because the new services usually operate 24 hours a day, and not in cycles as before, when the network was essentially used only for administrative needs.”

To meet its new requirements, the hospital decided to upgrade the network. Under guidelines set by the European Union (on imposing a public tender), a number of leading system integrators were invited to respond to the tender and Delco, a Milan-based integrator, was selected. Delco’s proposed solution was based on two Brocade FastIron modular switches and 60 Brocade BigIron switches deployed in phases to minimize disruption across the network.

“Delco proposed a total replacement of the existing network and offered a highly attractive cost vs. benefit proposition with significant added value,” says Mr. Orsi. “None of the other participants could meet the specifications at anywhere near the same price.”

Having reliable network performance allows the hospital to plan the implementation of new services such as VoIP, in addition to an increasingly wide range of network-supported applications that improve medical care: "Today we provide all cardiographs digitally, but in the future we intend to extend the connection to other devices," says Mr. Orsi.

"The significant increase we’ve seen is the connection speed from the core to the various departments allows new benefits that previously were not possible. In addition to all essential data for the typical operation of the hospital, the network also handles all the information from the IP video surveillance equipment. What’s more, now with the new infrastructure in place, we have segmented traffic, creating VLAN specifications to isolate any failure to prevent malfunctions that could compromise the entire network," adds Mr. Orsi.

Another benefit of Brocade solution is the management software that allows the hospital to monitor network performance. Apart from being installed quickly and without problems, Brocade switches simplify management and have streamlined the hospital’s overall IT administration processes: "After following a short course, my people are able to carry out all inspections and address any issues independently, which has made our lives easier," notes Mr. Orsi.

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Brocade® (Nasdaq:BRCD) develops extraordinary networking solutions that enable today’s complex, data-intensive businesses to optimize information connectivity and maximize the business value of their data. For more information, visit www.brocade.com

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