Cyber Security
Safeguarding against the potential cyber threat landscape
A national public teaching hospital engaged Outcomex’s expertise to implement a wireless network refresh to ensure a seamless, consistent and effective communication infrastructure throughout the hospital. To upgrade the end-of-life infrastructure, we used our expertise and a Cisco equipment, to simplify, and streamline network operations, while at the same time ensuring a heightened security posture. By doing this, we ensured the teaching hospital’s strategic vision of creating a smart, sustainable, and secure wireless environment, where patient care, operational systems and life-supporting machines were improved on, was fulfilled.
Client
As a prominent public teaching hospital, recognised globally for their excellence in hospital-based research, their focus is on providing tertiary health services, health professional education and research, while providing high-quality, patient-centred care across multiple sites, patients’ homes and within regional hospitals.
One of the largest providers of training of specialist physicians and surgeons, the public teaching hospital is renowned for their specialist work in a number of fields, such as cancer, infectious diseases, obesity, sleep medicine, intensive care medicine, neurology, endocrinology, mental health and rehabilitation.
The public teaching hospital brings the benefits of hospital-based research into clinical practice, which attracts staff who are highly engaged and look for ways to improve on the way the hospitals deliver patient care.
Opportunity
Existing wireless infrastructure within the hospital had become old and obsolete, causing the hospital to experience connection issues, lack of functionality and network reliability, hindering efficient health and medical service and exceptional patient care.
Patient care was starting to suffer as a result of unreliable network connection, which meant productivity was beginning to suffer, particularly in vital operational areas. This caused nursing and hospital staff to experience undue stress, and patient care was beginning to deteriorate to levels below what the hospital would consider acceptable. Additionally, the teaching hospital had a significant number of end-of-life devices, creating additional risk if these machines were dropping network connection and not working due to poor connectivity.
Solution
Multiple Cisco products were leveraged in order to provide reliable wireless, upgrade the existing infrastructure and support the increasing reliance on wireless at the hospital not only for patient entertainment but patient care, medicine, phone systems, nurse duress and life supporting machines.
We deployed Cisco Industrial Equipment across the teaching hospital to improve the wireless communication throughout the building, while at the same time improving network security and speed. This delivers enhanced functionality, such as hyperlocation, making it easier to track and find vital equipment through Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Providing staff with real-time location access allows them to respond effectively to patients by giving them what they need, when they need it.
Furthermore, to increase their capacity and upgrade their hyperconverged infrastructure (HyperFlex), we deployed a network management system that automates the deployment, connectivity, and lifecycle of their infrastructure while proactively maintaining the quality and security of vital applications and operations.
Hyperflex was included to provide the capacity to run certain Cisco equipment which will increase the security posture and device viability. This specific solution is ideal in hospital environments, particularly useful for mobile duress and the safety of the hospital nurses. As a smart Wi-Fi solution, Cisco equipment ingeniously uses Cisco wireless infrastructure to provide location services and analytics for staff’s mobile devices. This means that by simply pushing a button, nurses can discretely and immediately send an emergency alert to security personnel if needed, and nursing staff can be aware of the location of staff operating in high-risk areas. This significantly increases threat defence by providing detailed network visibility and security analytics to hospital staff, automatically detecting threats, and responding in real-time.
Technologies used
- Cisco Industrial Equipment
Impact
Outcomex deployed a complete refresh of a public teaching hospital’s existing network, including increasing their cyber security posture and improving performance and reliability of their wireless network and operational efficiency. With the increase of wireless coverage, staff experience is improved, helping to maintain functionality and ensuring exceptional patient care is continued.
