Alcatel Awarded $15m Contract By Advocate Health Care To Upgrade Voice
Communications Network
One of the nation's leading health care delivery networks will deploy Alcatel's advanced IP
telephony and contact center solutions for improved patient interactions
Calabasas, Calif. and Oak Brook, Ill., Mar. 13, 2002 - Alcatel (NYSE: ALA) today announced
that Advocate Health Care, the largest fully integrated healthcare delivery system in
metropolitan Chicago, has chosen Alcatel's award-winning Omni family of IP communications
solutions for its telecommunications network. This multi-year contract is valued at $15 million.
Under this contract, Alcatel will supply Advocate with the Alcatel OmniPCX 4400 IP
communications system and the Alcatel OmniTouch contact center suite for upgrading its
telecommunications network over the next four years. This project will involve 65 locations
including eight acute care and two children's hospitals, numerous clinics, administrative
centers and several large call centers in the Chicago Metropolitan area.
Advocate's selection of Alcatel and its technology will enable the standardization and
consolidation of Advocate's telecommunications systems, allowing for centralized
management and support, while creating a seamless system image for Advocate's patients,
physicians, and associates.
"The Alcatel OmniPCX 4400 network provides the technology and services that allow
Advocate to differentiate itself in the Chicagoland market. We expect to achieve improved
patient and associate satisfaction with the OmniPCX 4400's improved call management
capabilities, enhanced contact center technology, and flexible mobile applications," said
Dianne Bergen, corporate manager of telecommunications, Advocate Health Care. "Because
reliability is a must in the healthcare environment, Alcatel's solution was the perfect choice for
our voice communications network. It provides the reliability and features of a traditional
phone system, while blending in new convergence technologies."
"The Alcatel solution provides Advocate with a cost effective migration to IP strategy while
integrating with analog, digital and IP technologies required by our current and planned
applications," said Daniel Weegar, corporate IS director Technology Services, Advocate
Health Care. "Alcatel's convergence technology allows Advocate to realize excellent
utilization of its current data infrastructure."
"With built-in mobility capabilities, media independence, and networkability, the OmniPCX
4400 is the ideal solution to meet the specific communications needs of healthcare
organizations. We are pleased that the Alcatel OmniPCX 4400 has been selected by Advocate
to provide critical communications for its physicians, nurses, administrators and patients across
its network," said Tom Wilburn, senior vice president, Alcatel North America enterprise
business.
Alcatel's value propositions for healthcare businesses:
Networkability - The Alcatel OmniPCX 4400 adapts to any type of infrastructure (IP, ATM,
frame relay, PSTN, ISDN, or leased line) to provide a full set of user features over a network of
OmniPCX 4400 systems.
Media Independence - From a single call server, the Alcatel OmniPCX 4400 offers a wide
range of user desktop options including analog, digital, IP, wireless, and soft phones while
supporting legacy terminals such as night-ringers, over-head paging systems, modems, and fax
machines.
Contact center - Embedded within the Alcatel OmniPCX 4400 call server, the core
components of the Alcatel OmniTouch contact center suite make it easy for healthcare
customers to deploy and manage virtual multimedia contact centers across the network.
Mobility - The Alcatel OmniPCX 4400 offers in-building wireless handsets as well as PC-based
soft phones to enhance user mobility. Additionally, the OmniPCX 4400 also integrates with
healthcare mobility applications such as nurse call, paging, and wireless IP phone solutions.
About the Omni family of convergence-ready network solutions
Alcatel's award-winning Omni family of networking solutions meets the needs of enterprises
converging voice and data networks. Based on a client/server UNIX architecture, the Alcatel
OmniPCX 4400 is an IP-PBX with dual IP-TDM capabilities that supports scalability from 50 to
50,000 users, innovative telephone handsets, one-number mobility, unified messaging and
voice-over IP networking. Alcatel's Omni family of data switches and VPN security solutions
provide the network foundation that supports the quality of service, security, and management
requirements of converged networks.
About Advocate Health Care
Oak Brook-based Advocate Health Care, the largest health care provider in Illinois, has ranked
among the nation's top 10 health care systems for five straight years. A faith-based, non-profit
system, Advocate is related to both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the
United Church of Christ. Advocate's 200+ sites of care in metropolitan Chicago include eight
acute care hospitals and two children's hospitals, three of Chicago's largest medical groups
and a home health care company. One of every three physicians in Chicago is part of
Advocate's 4,600-member medical staff. With more than 24,500 employees, Advocate is the
third largest private employer in Chicago and the only health care provider listed among the
25 best places to work in Chicago. Through a long-term academic and teaching affiliation
with the University of Illinois at Chicago Health Sciences Center, Advocate trains more primary
care physicians than any non-university teaching hospital in Illinois. Advocate also conducts
hundreds of research studies each year and is related to both the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America and the United Church of Christ. For more information, visit
advocatehealth.com
About Alcatel
Alcatel designs, develops and builds innovative and competitive communications networks,
enabling carriers, service providers and enterprises to deliver any type of content, such as
voice, data and multimedia, to any type of consumer, anywhere in the world. Relying on its
leading and comprehensive products and solutions portfolio, stretching from end-to-end
optical infrastructures, fixed and mobile networks to broadband access, Alcatel's customers
can focus on optimizing their service offerings and revenue streams. With sales of $22 billion
(EURO 25 billion) in 2001 and 99,000 employees, Alcatel operates in more than 130
countries.
Contact press@www.alcatel.com |
