SUCCESS STORY SUNY – Upstate University Health System
Customer Company Size
Large Corporate
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- Brocade Virtual Traffic Manager
Tech Stack
- VMware
- Citrix
- Intel’s x86 architectures
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Productivity Improvements
- Digital Expertise
Technology Category
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms
Applicable Industries
- Healthcare & Hospitals
Applicable Functions
- Maintenance
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Predictive Maintenance
- Remote Asset Management
Services
- System Integration
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
About The Customer
SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY, is the only academic medical center in central New York. The affiliated Upstate University Health System serves 1.8 million people, often the most seriously ill and injured, and includes two hospitals and numerous satellite sites. The health system decided to adopt electronic health records (EHR) three and a half years ago. They chose the Epic solution from Epic Systems Corporation as its EHR software, and runs it as a server-based, Citrix-published application. Upstate has more than 30 Citrix servers with Epic Hyperspace applications installed. End users go to any web browser and launch the Epic Hyperspace application, which then links to a variety of Epic auxiliary applications. Epic is, by far, the health system’s most widely used application, with between 2,700 and 3,500 concurrent users depending on the time of day.
The Challenge
SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY, is the only academic medical center in central New York. The affiliated Upstate University Health System serves 1.8 million people, often the most seriously ill and injured, and includes two hospitals and numerous satellite sites. Three and a half years ago Upstate University Health System decided to adopt electronic health records (EHR). Chris Loughlin, Citrix certified administrator and Epic Client Systems Manager, was brought in along with two others to manage the Windows and Citrix infrastructure for the project. Upstate chose the Epic solution from Epic Systems Corporation as its EHR software, and runs it as a server-based, Citrix-published application. Upstate has more than 30 Citrix servers with Epic Hyperspace applications installed. End users go to any web browser and launch the Epic Hyperspace application, which then links to a variety of Epic auxiliary applications. “Epic is, by far, the health system’s most widely used application, with between 2,700 and 3,500 concurrent users depending on the time of day,” Loughlin explains. According to Loughlin, Epic requires load balancing – to handle the load as more people come online, to allow updates without affecting users, and to balance the traffic among Epic’s front-end and auxiliary applications. Epic Systems leaves the choice of the load balancer up to its customers. At the same time, New York State provided funding for green initiatives, which led Upstate to decide to virtualize as much of the EHR system as possible, including load balancing.
The Solution
Loughlin considered two load balancing solutions: Citrix NetScaler and Brocade Virtual Traffic Manager virtual application delivery controller (ADC). He chose the Brocade Virtual Traffic Manager for a number of reasons. First, the Brocade Virtual Traffic Manager (then called Zeus Traffic Manager) was already being used successfully by the health system’s Radiology department. “The fact that they spoke highly of it was important in the selection process,” Loughlin notes. Second, the Brocade solution cost less than the Citrix option. Loughlin also appreciated that, as a virtual appliance, the Brocade Virtual Traffic Manager complied with his state’s green initiatives, and it fit nicely into the health system’s VMware environment. Another advantage with the Brocade Virtual Traffic Manager was that he could have load balancing up and running much sooner than if he had to order and install a physical appliance. In fact, it took less than a week to get it into production – from the time Loughlin downloaded the Brocade Virtual Traffic Manager files to when it was load balancing the first application, the Citrix web interface. Since then Loughlin has added the other Epic applications to the load balancer, for a total of about 15 applications in all. “Adding applications is quick and easy,” he says. So easy a few of his colleagues use Brocade to load balance non-Epic applications. “Our use of the Brocade Virtual Traffic Manager has grown, but I feel like we’re not really taxing it at all,” Loughlin adds.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
Case Study missing?
Start adding your own!
Register with your work email and create a new case study profile for your business.
Related Case Studies.
Case Study
Hospital Inventory Management
The hospital supply chain team is responsible for ensuring that the right medical supplies are readily available to clinicians when and where needed, and to do so in the most efficient manner possible. However, many of the systems and processes in use at the cancer center for supply chain management were not best suited to support these goals. Barcoding technology, a commonly used method for inventory management of medical supplies, is labor intensive, time consuming, does not provide real-time visibility into inventory levels and can be prone to error. Consequently, the lack of accurate and real-time visibility into inventory levels across multiple supply rooms in multiple hospital facilities creates additional inefficiency in the system causing over-ordering, hoarding, and wasted supplies. Other sources of waste and cost were also identified as candidates for improvement. Existing systems and processes did not provide adequate security for high-cost inventory within the hospital, which was another driver of cost. A lack of visibility into expiration dates for supplies resulted in supplies being wasted due to past expiry dates. Storage of supplies was also a key consideration given the location of the cancer center’s facilities in a dense urban setting, where space is always at a premium. In order to address the challenges outlined above, the hospital sought a solution that would provide real-time inventory information with high levels of accuracy, reduce the level of manual effort required and enable data driven decision making to ensure that the right supplies were readily available to clinicians in the right location at the right time.
Case Study
Gas Pipeline Monitoring System for Hospitals
This system integrator focuses on providing centralized gas pipeline monitoring systems for hospitals. The service they provide makes it possible for hospitals to reduce both maintenance and labor costs. Since hospitals may not have an existing network suitable for this type of system, GPRS communication provides an easy and ready-to-use solution for remote, distributed monitoring systems System Requirements - GPRS communication - Seamless connection with SCADA software - Simple, front-end control capability - Expandable I/O channels - Combine AI, DI, and DO channels
Case Study
Driving Digital Transformations for Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices
Diagnostic devices play a vital role in helping to improve healthcare delivery. In fact, an estimated 60 percent of the world’s medical decisions are made with support from in vitrodiagnostics (IVD) solutions, such as those provided by Roche Diagnostics, an industry leader. As the demand for medical diagnostic services grows rapidly in hospitals and clinics across China, so does the market for IVD solutions. In addition, the typically high cost of these diagnostic devices means that comprehensive post-sales services are needed. Wanteed to improve three portions of thr IVD:1. Remotely monitor and manage IVD devices as fixed assets.2. Optimizing device availability with predictive maintenance.3. Recommending the best IVD solution for a customer’s needs.
Case Study
HaemoCloud Global Blood Management System
1) Deliver a connected digital product system to protect and increase the differentiated value of Haemonetics blood and plasma solutions. 2) Improve patient outcomes by increasing the efficiency of blood supply flows. 3) Navigate and satisfy a complex web of global regulatory compliance requirements. 4) Reduce costly and labor-intensive maintenance procedures.
Case Study
Cloud-based healthcare solution for Royal Philips
Royal Philips wanted to launch its cloud-based healthcare solution HealthSuite Digital Platform in China to deliver services to help cope with challenges related to urbanization and population growth. Philips wanted to achieve this goal by combining mobile, cloud computing and big data technologies. To bring this platform and product to market, Philips required cloud computing and local technical service capabilities in China, in addition to a flexible IT infrastructure that could handle user requests.
