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Monday January 10, 9:31 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Data General NUMA Technology Ensures System Availability and Supports Rapid Growth for Baptist Health
AViiON(R) NUMA servers with DG/UX(R) Provide Simplified, Consolidated Computing Solution to Support Multi-Site Facility Housing Over 1,100 Beds
MONTGOMERY, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 10, 2000-- Baptist Health today announced that it has chosen AViiON servers from Data General, a Division of EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC - news), to accommodate its rapid growth and increased commitment to the community it serves. Data General's advanced NUMA technology has enabled Baptist Health to upgrade its Hospital Information System (HIS) to support hundreds of new users and additional hospital beds as it has grown from a single hospital to a health system supporting over 1,100 beds, 1,500 users, and multiple sites.
Because Baptist Health had experienced enormous growth over the last five years, it needed proven technology from a partner it could trust. It had recently purchased four hospitals, a same day surgery center, a nursing home and a clinic in Central Alabama, and needed to transition all its new users to one Hospital Information System, McKessonHBOC's Pathways Care Manager and STAR 2000 products. Data General provided a solution that would support Baptist Health's need for scalability, high-availability, and control, and also accommodate future growth. In addition, Baptist Health's facilities operate from one computer room, making it imperative that the systems are available on a 7x24 basis.
Baptist Health's new platform combines four of Data General's highly available AViiON© AV 25000 NUMA (non-uniform memory access) servers running DG/UX with McKessonHBOC Pathways Care Manager software with EMC CLARiiON(TM) storage solutions. Both Data General and partner McKessonHBOC have been working with Baptist Health for approximately 15 years. Data General is a IT leader in the healthcare industry, offering simplified computing solutions that enable healthcare organizations to build reliable IT infrastructures and adopt new technologies.
``The high-availability features of Data General's AV 25000 ensure that our users can stay online to support our growing community twenty-four hours a day. As a result of our NUMA upgrade, Baptist Health users have already seen faster response time at their workstations,' commented Bill Colmer, CIO at Baptist Health. ``Data General's proven leadership in NUMA technology, and experience with McKessonHBOC implementations, convinced us that it would be the right choice. In addition, the fact that Data General offers us the flexibility to use DG/UX and Windows NT within the same system in the future was a critical factor in our final decision.'
Data General offers customers the flexibility to run UNIX and NT in the same system through AVFlex(TM), a comprehensive set of services and products that allows customers to initially configure systems to meet today's needs and easily reconfigure when business or application conditions change.
``Data General is committed to delivering advanced yet simplified computing solutions to our customers in healthcare and other industries to help them successfully manage rapid consolidation and change,' said Mike Parise, vice president, worldwide marketing at Data General. ``Our NUMA systems deliver new levels of control, scalability and high-availability, enabling our customers to focus on the growth and expansion of their businesses. We are delighted to be working with Baptist Health in this exciting period in its development.'
Baptist Health's Solution
Baptist Health's new technology platform includes four Data General AV 25000 NUMA servers, and EMC CLARiiON storage systems. Three of the AV 25000 servers are used to run the McKessonHBOC Pathways Care Manager solution, for the facility's Hospital Information Solution (HIS) needs. The remaining AV 25000 server is used for Y2K testing, IT training and professional services.
About Baptist Health
Baptist Health opened its doors as Montgomery Baptist Hospital on July 29, 1963, with 131 doctors on the staff and a bed capacity of 127. From that moment forward, Baptist Health continued to add new services and facilities, beginning with the opening of Meadhaven as a nursing home adjacent to the hospital (which was later converted into an emotional health/addictive disease facility).
In the late 1960s, the hospital opened the first intensive care unit in south central Alabama. Since then, it has added five additional units, including a state-of-the-art regional neonatal intensive care unit. In 1994 and 1995 more facilities were added to meet the changing needs of the area: a Women's Pavilion; two open-heart operating suites, which allowed Baptist to become the second provider of much-needed open-heart services in Montgomery; the Chest Pain Center, which provides the latest technology in the rapid diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease; and the Breast Health Center, a multi-disciplinary approach to total breast health. In 1994, Baptist Health Services also undertook the management of Crenshaw Baptist Hospital in Luverne, a 63-bed rural healthcare facility.
In the fall of 1998, Baptist Health grew tremendously with the acquisition of several Columbia facilities in central Alabama, now named Baptist Medical Center East, Prattville Baptist Hospital and Nursing Center, Selma Baptist Hospital and Montgomery Surgical Center. The organization has more than doubled its number of employees and patients served.
Over the years, the original Montgomery Baptist Hospital has evolved into a multi-faceted corporation - the largest healthcare system in central Alabama. And Baptist Health continues to look ahead, to grow with and meet the needs of an ever-changing south central Alabama.
Data General's Expertise in Healthcare and Information Technology
For the past 20 years, Data General has been a leader in providing high-technology enterprise solutions to the healthcare industry, with solutions currently in use at more than 3,700 hospitals worldwide. The company's healthcare solutions include:
Clinical imaging solutions
Document imaging for medical records and business office departments
Internet/intranet solutions customized for the healthcare environment
Wireless Point-of-Care solutions
IT infrastructure solutions for the healthcare enterprise
Decision support and business intelligence.
Additional information on Data General's healthcare solutions is available at www.dg.com/healthcare.
About Data General
Data General, a Division of EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC - news), is a major supplier of enterprise and departmental computing solutions for customers worldwide. The division's products include Microsoft Windows NT- and UNIX-based AViiON servers and related software and services. Strategic alliances with leading software vendors and systems integrators enable Data General to deliver complete solutions that meet customers' business needs for their departments and enterprises. Additional information on Data General, its products and services is available on the Internet at www.dg.com. More information on EMC Corporation, the world's leading provider of enterprise storage systems and software, can be accessed on the Internet at www.emc.com.
AViiON and DG/UX are registered trademarks and AVFlex is a trademark of Data General, A Division of EMC Corporation. EMC CLARiiON is a trademark of EMC Corporation. All other brand names and product names referred to in this press release may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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