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3Com designs secure communications solu-tions that meet the biggest challenges ofhealth care: access, quality, and efficiency.3Com has thousands of health care cus-tomers of various sizes worldwide, each ben-efiting from 3Com health care optimizedsolutions. These solutions include underly-ing standards-based technologies: IP teleph-ony unified messaging, gigabit ethernet, tri-mode wireless LANs, IntelliJacks™ switch-es, and infused security. 3Com Corporation(NASDAQ: COMS), employs 2,100employees in 40 countries in 75 locations.

Wireless and CPOE Tablet PCs, computers on wheels (COWs),and PDAs are the de facto choice for com-puterized physician order entry (CPOE)and electronic patient record (EPR) appli-cations. These devices require a high speed,pervasive, and secure connection that sup-ports mobility and session persistence. The3Com Wireless LAN Access Point 8250creates an enterprise-class wireless LANsupporting up to 253 simultaneous users.The 8250 Access Point is designed fromthe ground up as a modular, upgradeableplatform for configuration flexibility andinvestment protection. It ships as a single-mode 802.11g 2.4 GHz, 54-Mbps accesspoint with an open interchangeable radioslot. As your needs grow, you may add802.11a support in this access point tooptimize performance and user density.Built-in security, manageability, and relia-bility features make it ideal for any sizeorganization or institution facing increas-ing mobile computing needs. To protectcommunications and sensitive data on thewireless LAN, the 8250 Access Point offersone of the most advanced and comprehen-sive set of authentication and encryptionsecurity capabilities on the market today.

InCor Hospital, also known as theHeart Institute of Sao Paulo UniversityMedical School, is the largest cardiac hos-pital in Latin America, with approximately

2,500 employees and 506 beds. InCorhas developed and implemented its ownEPR that contains all digital informa-tion for each patient, including dynamicimages, data, and waveforms. “While talk-ing to patients, our physicians can accessimages or other relevant informationinstantaneously,” says Marco Gutierrez,Technical Director of InCor. “Many of ourimage files are so large that it’s importantfor us to have a system that supports fasttransfer of this type of data.” As InCoradds to its wireless capabilities, physiciansare able to have constant access to patientinformation, no matter where they are.“Our physicians don’t work at fixed loca-tions,” explains Gutierrez. “They have tobe able to move around the hospital andthey need patient information whereverthey go. Our new wireless system lets them examine a patient in one building,consult with colleagues in the other build-ing, obtain test results, and deliver thediagnosis without having to check in any-where in between.”

Converged Medical DevicesA hospital that converges medical devicessuch as cardiac monitors, metered IVpumps, and drug dispensers onto its exist-ing ethernet communications networksaves substantially on staff and time; it alsoreduces human errors. When 10/100 Mbpsswitched ethernet ports are added by bed-sides and staff locations, the patient’s med-ical device data can connect directly to theclinicians and administrators who serve thepatient. Gone is the need to write downreadings, route papers throughout the hos-pital, or search for and decipher handwrit-ten records for patient diagnosis, treat-ment, and billing. The hospital that con-verges medical devices onto its networkcan raise both its efficiency and its qualityof care. With two compact and scalable3Com® switch products, a hospital canquickly and securely converge medical

devices onto its network, making rapidgains in its efficiency and quality of care.This cost-effective solution delivers all thebenefits of high performance 10/100 ether-net switching, in-line power, and trafficprioritization, as well as IEEE 802.1Xauthentication, RADIUS security, andtime-saving administration. The 3ComIntelliJack switch is an innovative “in thewall” switch that turns an existing wall-mounted RJ-45 ethernet outlet into four10/100 Mbps switched ethernet ports. Itreduces cable clutter, eliminates the vulner-ability of a freestanding switch and theneed to pull more cable, and can be pow-ered by local power or standards-basedpower over ethernet (POE). The managedmodel can also remotely pinpoint the loca-tion of attached devices, control networkaccess and traffic on a port-by-port basis,and set IEEE 802.1Q VLANs. The 3ComSuperStack 3 Switch 4400 PWR is a man-aged 24-port 10/100 POE edge switch thatdelivers both wirespeed data and powerover a single cable to any POE-compliant

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Enabling the Transformation From Concept to Reality

Figure 1 3Com Switch 7700: High Performance PACS Core Switch

HOW TO MAKE IT WORK

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device. Featuring layer 4 traffic prioritiza-tion, it can be stacked with other Switch4400 units to create a resilient stack of upto 192 10/100 ports.

Recognized as one of the country’s“most wired hospitals,” the University ofUtah Hospital (UUH) is taking the nexttechnological step to better serve patientsand staff.

UUH is integrating 3Com®

IntelliJacks™ switches into the hospital’sexpanding 3,000-employee, 400-bedhealth care system. The IntelliJack™switch, a four-port, managed fast ethernetswitch compacted into a traditional wallfaceplate, is enabling the Salt Lake Cityhospital to provide more ports to selectuser locations in its 15,000-port networkwithout adding cable in wiring closets.“3Com’s unique IntelliJack™ switchallows us to quickly add data ports to sup-port new services without piling up addi-tional cabling costs,” said Gary

Vandertoolen, network operations manag-er, UUH. “The IntelliJacks™ switches giveus greater value from our network architec-ture. They even let us manage these nodesremotely, which greatly reduces our totalcost of ownership.”

At the hospital’s Stansbury Park clinic,IntelliJacks™ switches help deliver theCerner electronic records system, plusPACS radiology and other cutting-edgemedical applications to emergency roompersonnel to help them more rapidlyadmit, chart, and treat emergencypatients. The location mapping applica-tion will map specialized hospital bedsthat deliver continuous readings of bloodpressure, pulse, and other vital statisticsfor critical care patients. UUH additional-ly will use the IntelliJacks™ switches to

create and manage virtual local area net-works (VLANs) deployed to more effi-ciently, securely, and reliably apportionbandwidth for both clinical and generaluse. For example, heart monitors withbuilt-in ethernet ports will be placed on aseparate VLAN from radiology PACS sta-tions and administrative users.

Radiology and PACSHospitals who have implemented picturearchiving communications system (PACS)are reporting a $2M annual reductionfrom reduced film, courier, and storagecosts. Additionally, doctors recognizing thebenefits in reduced turnaround and remoteviewing are quicker to refer.1

Hospitals use the Switch 7700 in thecore of their PACS. The modular, 10-giga-bit-ready Switch 7700 supports both layer2 and layer 3 switching and quality of serv-ice capabilities, enabling the PACS applica-tions. Hospitals no longer need to make

and share prints of every medical testimage as in the past and can expeditepatient care while reducing labor and stor-age costs. Easy to install, maintain, andexpand, the Switch 7700 can prioritizeimportant traffic in up to eight priorityqueues, which ensures that large digitalimages and voice calls are delivered rapidlyand reliably. Scaled to handle data speedsbetween 100 Mbps and 10 gigabit, theSwitch-7700-based hospital network canrespond easily to increasing networkdemands. The Switch 7700 also providestraffic control and administration viaaccess control lists, which control the des-tinations of its network traffic by IP andsubnet. As a result, the hospital shores upits security by preventing unauthorizedaccess to confidential patient records and

financial data. Additionally, the Switch7700 delivers VLANs, which give hospitalsthe ability to segregate network traffic bydepartment, improving data integrity, secu-rity, manageability, and performance. Thehospital uses VLANs to separate adminis-trative system, radiology, laboratory, andsecurity traffic.

Using an array of 3Com gigabit and fast ethernet switches at its five hospi-tals, 45 clinics, and 80 offices, CovenantHealth Care, eastern Tennessee’s largesthealth care provider, delivers a full range of 21st-century health services to better care for its patients. “3Com lets us keep pace with the latest advancesin medical technology,” said Art Jeffords,Covenant’s network operations supervisor.“We have more than enough bandwidth to dispatch medical images, patientrecords, financial information, and other critical data to the appropriate staff without delay. What’s more, our med-

ical staff accesses this data on demand, atpatients’ bedsides, in doctors’ lounges, andat twice as many desks as before.” Usingpowerful new 3Com switches, Covenant’sstaff are afforded fast, convenient access toenterprise clinical and PACS applicationsfrom McKesson. Medical personnel quick-ly update patient records, confer with colleagues internally and via the Internetand speed large files throughout the system. Administrators easily scheduleappointments, ensure medical supplies arefully stocked, and manage billing andaccounts payable. The hospital LANs evenextend to patient rooms, lounges, offices, andlaboratories, ensuring that Covenant’s 8,000employees have network access when andwhere they need it. “Our 3Com solutiondelivers exceptional performance and func-

Thanks to 3Com, we now have the power to handle thousands ofpatient records, hundreds of medical images, and scores of phonecalls simultaneously, with flawless network performance.

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3Com designs secure com-munications solutions thatmeet the biggest challengesof health care: access,quality, and efficiency. 3Comhas thousands of health carecustomers of various sizesworldwide, each benefitingfrom 3Com health care opti-mized solutions.

Bruce Claflin CEO and President

Nick Ganio EVP, Worldwide Sales

3Com Corp.350 Campus Dr.Marlborough, MA 01752-3064 Phone 508.323.5000 Fax 508.323.1111 www.3Com.com

Business ContactSeth Adler Director, Health Sciences Phone 508.323.5000seth_adler@3Com.com

tionality for an unbeatable price,” Jeffords noted.“With 3Com systems, we can provide ourpatients with the most advanced, accurate, time-ly health care available – using the latest technol-ogy and in ways we haven’t yet imagined.”

Voice and Unified MessagingVoice applications are poised to be the killerapplication for health care, whether for com-munication, coordination, information, orpatient recreation. Clinicians need better com-munications tools that will enable critical callsto find and follow them while divertingnonessential calls to voice mail. The voice sys-tems can play a key role in optimizing com-munications, from finding the specialist physi-cian on call to making outbound calls foremergency broadcast and notification.Additionally physicians who have reportedpatient examination cancellations upwards of10 percent, will benefit from a voice systemlinked with the clinicians’ calendar promptingreminders to patients and enabling reschedul-ing without human intervention. The 3ComVCX™ V7000 IP Telephony Solution, inte-grates function-rich voice services on the datanetwork. With its modular design, open archi-tecture, and adherence to industry standards,the VCX system delivers highly scalable,enterprise IP telephony, to which hospitals canadd functionality and applications as needed.The carrier-class platform streamlines the hos-pital’s migration from traditional PBX phonesto Session-Initiation-Protocol-based handsetsand allows it to introduce advanced, media-independent, multi-user services such as uni-fied messaging. Able to support up to 50,000simultaneous users, the solution provides eventhe largest medical centers with more thanenough capacity for future growth.

Brandon Regional Health Authority(BRHA) provides full-service health care toapproximately 180,000 people in and aroundBrandon, Manitoba’s second-largest city. Itemploys 2,300 staff members, including 125doctors, in seven buildings in a two-mileradius in downtown Brandon. “In today’s hos-pital, a powerful infrastructure can make the

difference between life and death,” said RodPohl, director of information technology forBRHA. “To provide 21st-century health care,we need enough bandwidth to deliver infor-mation to all of our staff, whenever and wher-ever they need it. By converging all our voiceand data communications on a single, easilyscalable infrastructure, we can cut costs andimprove care even as we grow.” With its new3Com network, Brandon Regional HealthAdministration can bring more information tomore staff members, more quickly and reliablythan ever before. “Thanks to 3Com, we nowhave the power to handle thousands of patientrecords, hundreds of medical images, andscores of phone calls simultaneously, withflawless network performance,” Pohl said. Themedical center relies on its new VCX net-worked telephony system to enhance commu-nication both internally and with the public.The built-in “find me, follow me” featureallows home care workers to forward theircalls to Toshiba tablet PCs equipped with cel-lular communication capability and 3CompcXset™ software – essentially transformingthe portable computers into mobile VCXextensions that work on the road and inpatients’ homes. Unified messaging keeps sen-ior administrators in touch at all times, alert-ing them by email and pager when theyreceive a voice mail message.

SummaryUsing 3Com wired and wireless systems, healthcare institutions are expediting patient carewithin and outside the hospital. The hospitalnow can quickly complete informationexchanges with dozens of other health careproviders and partners. They also have thebandwidth and power to run the latest medical,backoffice, and multimedia applications,including Voice over Internet Protocol. Medicalstaff throughout the hospital can instantlyaccess patient records and diagnostic data fromthe bedside or anywhere in the hospital. ■

Endnote1 KLAS 2004 “Vendor Performance Measurement in 2003.”