The Delivery of Optimized Healthcare Solutions Starts at the Network

It seems truly unfathomable to perceive the pivotal role that IT systems play in the healthcare vertical. Today, Information Technology is linked to every single aspect of medical care. Medical professionals all over the world rely on services such as video, voice, Internet and data transport, as well as technology-based communication amongst medical entities to help them make critical health-related decisions. There is an overwhelming amount of data transmitted throughout networks today, and the effective transfer of this information is key to the operation of medical entities, as well as the well being of every patient.

With such staggering data transfer rates come the possibilities of privacy/security intrusions, bottlenecks increasing latency during transmission, and network downtime. Healthcare organizations’ IT environments are becoming increasingly complex, strict security and regulatory measures are being enforced, and the costs to keep them in operation are rising while funds are growing scarce. Managing the critical connections between these entities has become a daunting task.

To cope with this evolution of the healthcare IT landscape, many medical organizations are turning to healthcare IT firms like Cerner Corporation, whose deployment of SaaS solutions enables the efficient, secure transfer of vital patient data between health systems in order to improve the quality of patient care. But in order for any SaaS solution to be effective in enabling real-time access to information and reporting systems, it requires a reliable network infrastructure.

Cerner is transforming the healthcare industry by providing hosted healthcare software solutions delivered over its private network platform in order to mitigate the impact of non-health traffic, amongst other things. When its hosted service magnified, the company started searching for a way to migrate from its outdated ATM / frame relay switches to ascalable, reliable, optimized network infrastructure in order to sustain the growth. They found it by partnering with Global Capacity, the leading telecommunications information and logistics company.

Knowing that the traditional MPLS network offered by many of today’s providers would not suffice, Global Capacity designed and deployed Cerner’s high availability private networkfor the healthcare industry, Skybox Connect™. Skybox Connect™ not only provides scalable, private, high speed network connectivity, but also a multi-point private network with 1,500+ local access connections throughout the US across Cerner’s managed service client network. Inspired by Global Capacity’s One Marketplace Access Exchange, an automated pricing and procurement platform for global access network solutions, Skybox Connect™ automates the pricing, provisioning, and ordering of tail circuits.

With key features like network technology that classifies, prioritizes and handles traffic to reduce network latency, redundancy to reduce the risk of service disruptions, HI-TECH-enabled technology ensuring HIPAA compliance and security through encryption of data, and 24x7x365 Network Operations Center (NOC) administration and support, Skybox Connect™ is the answer to some of the greatest collaboration challenges faced by today’s healthcare providers and their partners. Additionally, it enables Cerner to deliver its entire suite of cloud-based services such as messaging, remote desktop, storage, and protection to its customers. As an outsourced solution, it is also more cost-effective than traditional infrastructure management.

Global Capacity’sdesign and deployment of Skybox Connect™ has not only helped Cerner deliver superior service to its clients, but also expand its service offerings both stateside and abroad due to the network’s ability to run any protocol or service the company desires.