HIE Wire   back to index

Sweden's largest Hospital targets improved patient care with Cisco technology

Cisco networking technology to advance Data Center Network Architecture, improve data storage, support a hospital merger and connect multiple locations around Stockholm

Gartner Data Center Summit, Amsterdam, and Stockholm, Sweden, November 30, 2005 - Cisco Systems today announced that Karolinska University Hospital - Sweden's largest - is deploying a Cisco Medical-Grade Network solution to help improve healthcare services delivered to patients and streamline IT management. Karolinska, in Stockholm, expects realise significant savings by using Cisco technology to help hospital doctors and home-based medical specialists share patient information quickly and with a high degree of security, making diagnosis and treatment faster and more efficient.

The project is the first step by the hospital toward a Cisco Data Center Network Architecture as it aims to consolidate four data centers — resulting from the merger of two hospitals in Stockholm — into two data centers, one of which will be used for business continuity. Cisco storage area network (SAN) technology will help the hospital manage huge amounts of data more efficiently. The Cisco eRadiology solution using the storage area network is expected to enable 100Gigabytes of data a week, from the radiology department alone, to be stored and easily accessed for several months instead of days before being archived.

"Cisco technology means that we'll have a reliable network so doctors and nurses can access the information they need to make healthcare more cost effective and quicker to reach the point of need," said Anders Eriksson, network operations manager, Karolinska University Hospital. "Because Karolinska dates back to the 17th century, the hospital is scattered across Stockholm. As a result, the ability to connect each site, and share information quickly over highly secure connections is vital to maintaining our standing as one of the world's most advanced centers of medical excellence."

Karolinska, which is a world leader in cancer research and treatment, is using the Cisco Medical-Grade Network to connect as many as 14,000 users in sites around Stockholm. Two thousand of the users will access the network via more than 800 Cisco wireless access points. Karolinska has already started to deploy applications such as real-time video conferencing over the Cisco network. It is developing an e-enabled operating room which will broadcast operations and support real-time interaction world wide. Other future applications include Cisco Internet Protocol communications and replacing doctors' bleepers with handheld devices and mobile phones so that they can be alerted and can access information from a hospital site or remotely.

The core Cisco Medical-Grade Network will link up Karolinska's sites, including the Karolinska Institutet and a medical school, using a combination of Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches, Cisco 7200 Series Routers, Cisco Catalyst 3560 Series Switches and Cisco Catalyst 2950 Series Switches. The Cisco SAN will use Cisco MDS 9500 Series Multilayer Directors. The Cisco Data Center Network architecture also incorporates Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches in the two data centers in Huddinge and Solna - several kilometres apart in Stockholm - linked by eight Gigabit fibre connections. The wireless component of the network uses Cisco Aironet. Karolinska will use Catalyst 6500 series Firewall Services Modules for integrated network security in the data center and Cisco PIX 500 Series Security appliances in remote sites to help protect data across the whole network and meet tough Swedish laws that require hospitals to protect patient information.

"Today's healthcare organisations require a network infrastructure that satisfies the needs of medical professionals who rely increasingly on fast and secure access to information and communications to improve healthcare services. Cisco's Data Center Network Architecture helps deliver the high availability and business continuance that helps provide a platform for managing extremely high volumes of data, securely and reliably which hospitals like Karolinska need," said Andy Lockhart, VP Northern Europe for Cisco Systems. "Cisco technology can act as the nervous system of a healthcare organisation because it helps ensure the right information is at the right place at the right time."