Beth Israel Medical Center migrates advanced services to ATM
networking using scalable 3Com systems
High-speed 3Com equipment delivers healthcare, administrative and competitive
advantages for
expanding century-old New York City area health care provider
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--May 1, 1997-- 3Com Corp today
announced that Beth Israel Medical Center,
New York State's largest provider of inpatient care, has deployed an asynchronous
transfer mode (ATM) network from 3Com
to expedite patient, physician and administrative services.
The network is based on 3Com's Transcend Networking framework, enabling the
Manhattan-based organization to scale,
extend and manage increasing network growth. Beth Israel, which launched a $25
million Institute for Neurology and
Neurosurgery (INN) last October, formed a partnership with Manhattan's prestigious
St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center
last December.
The synergy of these two organizations today includes 2,732 beds in a dozen hospitals,
3,200 doctors and dentists, 14,000
employees, two medical schools and a $1.35 billion annual budget.
Fueled by 3Com's Transcend Networking framework, Beth Israel is now strategically
leveraging its networking infrastructure
to more effectively grow and compete in New York State's recently deregulated
healthcare marketplace.
"Our success in today's deregulated environment depends on providing the highest
quality patient care and expanding in and
beyond New York City," said Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, Beth Israel's CIO.
"Using 3Com's ATM infrastructure, we're
optimizing our services to campus facilities and associated hospitals in Manhattan,
Staten Island, Brooklyn, Long Island and
Westchester. The network infrastructure is the spine of our integrated health care
delivery network and is helping us compete at
a higher level than ever before."
Advanced Radiology, Imaging and Laboratory Applications
Launched in August 1996, Beth Israel's ATM network is providing significant business
advantages via several innovative medical and administrative applications. The Medical
Center's new network-driven PACS radiology system from AGFA has
reduced technician-to-physician transmissions of high-bandwidth X-rays, CATscans
and MRIs from 20 minutes to one minute.
Beth Israel's new network-based LANvision medical records imaging system instantly
provides physicians with complete
patient information, including test results and care providers.
The 3Com network also supports Beth Israel's new landmark Cerner Laboratory
Information System, now integrated into the
Medical Center's robotic laboratory. Projected to be a major profit center, the system
lets affiliated and non-affiliated
physicians electronically order laboratory tests from on site Cerner terminals. The
Medical Center then dispatches couriers to
pick up and deliver specimens to Beth Israel's lab. Once tests are complete, the 3Com
network uploads results to a DEC
AlphaServer via Beth Israel's data center ATM systems and distributes them online to
printers at customer sites.
"The Cerner model exemplifies Beth Israel's ability to use networking to offer new,
potentially lucrative services to the New
York area medical community," said Kathryn McTighe, 3Com's worldwide healthcare
industry manager.
Beth Israel is also using 3Com's high performance AccessBuilder 5000 system to
extend networked services to remotely located physicians' clinics in the metropolitan
New York area. These services include LANvision, as well as the Medical
Center's new Groupwise Email system, the full suite of Microsoft Office applications,
print services and the institution's IDX
financial/billing system.
"The network is an integral part of our healthcare and administrative services and will
become even more so in the future," said
Sidney Gellineau, Beth Israel's associated director of network management.
Reliable, Scalable Speed
Having previously used a shared 10 megabit per second (10 Mbps) network based on
routers and Chipcom -- now 3Com --
ONline System Concentrator shared Ethernet hubs, Beth Israel's ATM network
emanated from its need to support growing
numbers of users and applications.
With new facilities online such as the 300,000 square foot Phillips Ambulatory Care
Center in Union Square, which tripled the
number of users when it opened in December 1995, the Medical Center needed a
scalable, higher-speed, more manageable
architecture. After evaluating solutions from two other leading vendors, Beth Israel
chose 3Com CoreBuilder 7000
Ethernet/ATM switches and CoreBuilder 5000 integrated systems.
"3Com is giving us a proven ATM solution from a powerful industry player we can
believe in and trust," said J.P. Scarisbrick,
director of network access services, Beth Israel Information Technology and Services
Department. "The architecture lets us
reuse shared Ethernet modules from previous generation ONline hubs with newer
generation CoreBuilder 5000 systems, which
made it an even more pragmatic, cost-effective choice. It also provides the
comprehensive management we need to sustain
network performance."
The core of Beth Israel's 3Com architecture consists of nine redundant 3Com
CoreBuilder 7000 high-function Ethernet/ATM
switches lodged at data centers in seven campus buildings. These facilities include: Beth
Israel's main Petrie Campus at 16th
Street and First Avenue, the INN located at the Medical Center's North Division at
East End Avenue and 87th Street and the
Phillips Ambulatory Care Center at Union Square.
Beth Israel is also using a wide range of 3Com Etherlink III PC-based network
interface cards and is managing the network
using 3Com Transcend Enterprise Manager network management application with
remote monitoring (RMON). "Transcend
lets us monitor and manage the entire network from a single desktop console," said
Gellineau. "The system's support of RMON
allow us to set performance thresholds and alarms by protocol and is maximizing the
network's performance and reliability."
About 3Com
3Com Corp. has helped more than 50 million people gain access to critical information
through high speed networks. Designed
to serve large enterprises, small offices and homes, 3Com products provide a scalable
architecture to meet the immediate and
long term connectivity needs of today's users. With research and development on three
continents, 3Com is one of the data
networking industry's largest and fastest growing companies. The company's innovative
marketing, sales and support simplify
communication, optimize network reliability and protect customer investments. For
further information, visit 3Com's World
Wide Web site at 3com.com, call 1-800-Net-3Com and Beth Israel
Medical Center's award-winning Home
Page: bethisraelny.org .
Note to Editors: 3Com, AccessBuilder, EtherLink, and Transcend are registered
trademarks, and CoreBuilder and ONline are trademarks of 3Com Corp. All other
names and brands are the property of their respective owners. |
