A Customer Success from the Experts in Business-Critical Continuity™
Background
Hartford Hospital
With 140 community medical centers at remote locations and a robust and expanding electronic medical records program, Hartford Hospital relies heavily on reliable IT and VoIP systems to help deliver high-quality medical attention to its patients all around central Connecticut. The hospital’s efforts have been successful— and noticed; Hospitals & Health Networks magazine recognized Hartford Hospital as one of its “100 Most Wired” each of the last three years and included the hospital in its 2009 list of the 25 “Most Wireless” hospitals and health facilities. This reliance on IT and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), especially at the 140 remote sites, helps Hartford Hospital provide top-notch care to its patients, but it also puts a premium on network availability.
Case Summary Location: Hartford, Connecticut Products/Services: • Liebert GXT on-line UPS Other Liebert Products: • Liebert UPStation S 5kW UPS supporting main conference area Hartford Hospital is an 867-bed regional referral center that provides high-quality care in all clinical disciplines and is the major teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Connecticut Medical School. The hospital employs more than 7,000 staff members and is the hub for 140 community medical facilities, making Hartford Hospital the leading tertiary medical center in central Connecticut. (May 2010)
• Liebert SmartSwitch transfer switch supporting the majority of the emergency department, parts of Radiology and some operating rooms Critical Need: Protect the IT and VoIP systems necessary to support electronic medical records and wireless patient data collection programs by providing reliable backup power and power conditioning to 140 remote sites.
A Customer Success from the Experts in Business-Critical Continuity™
Results E nsured IT availability and uninterrupted VoIPsupported communications through full redundancy of power systems across a regional network of physicians’ offices E liminated power problems and fluctuations that were occurring without UPS protection E nabled consistent, accurate performance of critical electronics serving physicians and patients Hardened the facilities to severe weather
Situation For more than 150 years, Hartford Hospital has been on the leading edge of medical care in the New England region. It was the site of Connecticut’s first successful heart transplant, pioneered the use of robotics in surgery, and today maintains the only Level 1 Trauma Center in the region and the only air ambulance system in the state. The hospital’s programs have been recognized for excellence by the Federal Government, U.S. News and World Report, Solucient, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and the National Cancer Institute, to name a few. But for network engineer Dave Rosicke, who oversees the hospital’s IT and communications networks, one honor stands out above the others. “We made Hospitals & Health Networks magazine’s 100 Most Wired list,” Rosicke said. “Three years running.”
Understanding why that means so much to Rosicke requires a better understanding of Hartford Hospital. The main campus in Hartford is home to two large hospital facilities, but there also are six satellite locations and more than 140 remote sites. All of the facilities have embraced the expanding role of IT systems in patient care, maintaining robust electronic medical records and using IT systems to record patient information in real time. The chart & wet film are things of the past at Hartford Hospital. “All of our clinical facilities have wireless access points for mobile computing devices, such as laptops or PDAs,” Rosicke said. “Our physicians and nursing staff use these devices to record data from the time they first see a patient.” The advantages and efficiencies that come with leveraging IT systems are clear—greater speed, accuracy and consistency among the improvements that benefit the patient and help the hospital on the bottom line. But there are downsides. Power disturbances and outages can wreak havoc with a system so reliant on IT. Even so, Hartford Hospital’s 140 remote sites operated without UPS systems until the fall of 2008. The facilities and physicians endured the inconveniences that came with every power outage. It wasn’t until Hartford Hospital transitioned to a VoIP system for its telecommunications and network service that power protection became a priority. Suddenly an outage—and sometimes even a power surge or similar disturbance—not only knocked out the lights; it knocked out the phones and entire IT system at the remote sites.
A Customer Success from the Experts in Business-Critical Continuity™
“With one building, the power was really bad,” Rosicke said. “Wireless went down all the time— every time there was a minor power burp. The existing line interactive units were not able to deliver reliable power. That was the first time we looked at on-line double conversion backup power solutions for networking equipment.” On-line double conversion UPS systems offer the greatest reliability and avoid even momentary lapses by providing power from the system’s inverter rather than simply routing conditioned power to the IT equipment. This delivers top-level reliability, even allowing maintenance on the UPS without any disruption. Rosicke said that level of power protection was necessary because of the remote site VoIP rollout—and that was the key to securing management approval for purchasing the UPS units. “Even if the power goes out, we still need to be able to deliver patient information,” he explained. “It is becoming more and more important as we keep using wireless tools to make sure we have power. We had been pushing to have UPS units at each remote site for years. We had no buy-in from the organization until we had a reason other than protecting the equipment. That reason was VoIP.”
Solution With management’s go-ahead for UPS units secured, Rosicke turned his attention to finding the right solution. He looked at the leading vendors but with help and advice from NWN Corporation, an IT reseller in Farmington, Connecticut, quickly settled on Liebert products from Emerson Network Power. Rosicke wanted an on-line double conversion UPS
“ ... The monitoring capabilities of the Liebert GXT provide the data we need without traveling from site to site for regular inspections. That’s not only a tremendous convenience, but a significant cost savings as well.” Dave Rosicke, Network Engineer, Hartford Hospital
to provide the highest possible availability. NWN knew Emerson Network Power offered the best-inclass solution—the Liebert GXT—while the leading competitor lacked an on-line double conversion UPS in the size Rosicke wanted. The Liebert GXT units also provide tremendous visibility into the Hartford Hospital remote site network. Rosicke said the SNMP monitoring and management capabilities were surprisingly robust for smaller UPS systems. “The network management capabilities with the Liebert GXT are really good,” he said. “And we have 24,000 nodes on our network. It’s absolutely crucial that we see what is going on. The monitoring capabilities of the GXT provide the
A Customer Success from the Experts in Business-Critical Continuity™
data we need without traveling from site to site for regular inspections. That’s not only a tremendous convenience, but a significant cost savings as well. “So from a technology standpoint, the Liebert GXT can cover the load and cover power conditioning and monitoring,” Rosicke said. “And from the management standpoint, Emerson Network Power offers a great warranty.” Emerson Network Power’s two-year standard warranty and optional three-year extension provide five years of warranty protection and were an important selling point. Rosicke said they have to replace UPS batteries every three years in some of the larger Hartford Hospital facilities. With some older UPS units, they had to replace batteries every two years. Rosicke said he expects to conduct battery refreshes for the Liebert GXT on-line double conversion units every four years—and that refresh still will be covered under the three-year extension. “With 140 sites, we didn’t want to worry about our UPS units,” he said. “With the Liebert GXT, we don’t have to.”
The Results Although still relatively early in the project, Rosicke said the results have been exactly what he expected. “The Liebert GXT can definitely handle our needs. The load is not too big, and the units are sized appropriately,” he said. “If we have the need for more power, we would stack two units and do a transfer switch. We haven’t had a need to do that.” Rosicke said the remote sites with the Liebert GXTs have experienced no outages since the installation of the UPS units. The VoIP-dependent systems and applications are functioning exactly as needed— without interruption. None of which is a surprise to Rosicke. “Trust me,” he said. “If we weren’t confident in the Liebert GXTs, we wouldn’t be rolling them out.” For more information on Liebert products and solutions from Emerson Network Power, visit www.liebert.com.
Rosicke worked with NWN to install the first Liebert GXTs in October 2008 and followed that up with about a dozen installations so far. Eventually, Liebert GXT units will provide power protection for all 140 remote sites. Emerson Network Power. The global leader in enabling Business-Critical ContinuityTM.
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