NHS Newham Deploys Aerohive’s Wireless LAN Across Borough
WLAN to Mobilize Healthcare Professionals & Accelerate Adoption of RiO
Santa Clara, CA (PRWEB) June 7, 2010
Aerohive Networks, creators of the award-winning cooperative control wireless LAN (WLAN) architecture, announced today that NHS Newham, which is responsible for the entire health budget of the London Borough of Newham, has implemented Aerohive’s controller-less WLAN infrastructure at its headquarters (HQ) and two polyclinics. Implemented and supported by Swiftpath Business Solutions and Networks First, the WLAN will help mobilize healthcare professionals and ensure the successful adoption of key initiatives such as utilization of referral based electronic applications, including RiO, and will eventually be rolled-out to the remaining 20 sites across the Borough as business demands dictate.
Aerohive's cooperative control HiveAPs require no network controllers or overlay networks. Instead, software in the HiveAPs enables them to self-organize into groups called Hives. The result is a secure multi-service WLAN infrastructure able to support a vast array of wireless devices, application types and service levels, with faster client performance, wire-like resilience and lower capital and operational costs.
Charles McNair, Director of Resources at NHS Newham said, “The mobilization of our healthcare professionals ensures patients have access to the right expertise on-demand. It is our job to ensure staff can access and update a patient’s records, or schedule a medical procedure, from any location, both securely and in real-time. Achieving this within a limited budget requires driving down capital and operational costs without compromising innovation and value. The wireless technologies from Aerohive can assist in this process.”
Paul Wrench, ICT Network Administrator, led the procurement process and comments that having previously deployed wireless networks, he was skeptical of finding an architecture that would provide a good user experience and reduce his costs.
“The challenges of wireless have centered on its complexity, reliability, and cost. With wireless fast becoming the primary network connection throughout NHS Newham, these issues had to be overcome. During the tender process, Aerohive stood head and shoulders above its competitors. The controller-less architecture, intuitive access points and central administration platform demonstrates this technology is designed simply to work, and doesn’t require tweaking or reconfiguration.”
By removing the need for controllers at each site, Wrench remarks that the economic argument was extremely compelling. “It simply wasn’t viable for us to deploy a controller and redundant controller at each site, nor, due to the critical nature of a healthcare environment, were we able to consider centralizing controllers. Aerohive’s technology allows us to minimize onsite infrastructure, bringing immediate CAPEX and OPEX savings, as well as reducing points of failure in the network.”
With only one HiveManager required to monitor up to 5,000 APs, as the network scales, investment is limited to just additional HiveAPs. Wrench and his team are also able to coordinate the entire network from a central location.
Says Wrench, “The platform is very impressive, and allows us to manage the network without going to individual sites. In the long-term, as we migrate to the Aerohive network across NHS Newham, this will massively reduce onsite maintenance, freeing us to focus on innovation and value-add activity. Furthermore, the controller-less architecture makes the network both flexible and easy to scale, without impeding performance or resilience.”
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