Introduction
Sussex Health Informatics Service (HIS) plays a crucial role in the management and implementation of projects that form part of the National Programme for IT (NPfIT). It is responsible for the Sussex Community of Interest Network (COIN).
Sussex HIS set up the COIN to provide a single, secure private network. It connects over 200 sites, including five acute-care hospitals, connecting 25,000 users from 11 different organizations to critical applications and databases.
The team implemented Observer Suite from Network Instruments to provide visibility across the network.
The Challenge
Sussex HIS needed to upgrade its network to support a robust image archiving system and to replace the existing WAN with a newer, more resilient one.
The project started over three years ago, and Sussex estimates it will be completed two years from now at a total cost reaching $23.5 million.
To justify the investment, Sussex HIS required complete visibility to troubleshoot future rollouts and guarantee the delivery of sensitive, mission critical data to organizations across Sussex Health Authority.
The Solution
Mark Walker and Bruce Wright, two consultants at Sussex HIS, sought to build a solution that could implement and troubleshoot wired and wireless networks, VPNs, dial-ins and intrusion prevention systems. |
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They worked with PTC, a leading network tools consultancy and solution supplier, to build a blueprint for the future. A number of competitive solutions were tested, but Network Instruments proved to be the winner.
Karen Dodson, Managing Director of PTC, explained, "Network Instruments' Observer® is the best network monitoring and analysis tool there is. It was built from the bottom up to meet the variable needs of organizations. Its beauty is its ability to hang modules off the core solution to meet differing needs of departments or seasonal fluctuations for example. It makes life very easy."
"Prior to working with PTC we took the objective decision to purchase a low-end product from a competitor. We tested the solutions with our general practitioners, but it soon became clear that it was unable to handle Gigabit traffic without drops," explained Mark Walker.
Observer Suite offered powerful application and expert analysis, MultiHop Analysis, and SNMP device management as its primary analyzer.
In addition, Sussex HIS deployed 15 Gigabit Advanced Probes across its network and a Gigabit Observer Suite System (GOSS) to provide a portable, all-in-one field service solution.
Network Visibility
A high number of third party applications are hosted and run over the Sussex HIS WAN. Because these are not managed in-house it is vital that Sussex HIS has complete visibility to ensure they do not negatively impact network flow, and to enable potential problem diagnosis.
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About Sussex HIS |
Sussex Health Informatics Service (HIS) is tasked with managing the IT services and infrastructure of 11 health trusts throughout Sussex, UK.
Encompassing 200 remote sites and over 25,000 users, the HIS network carries huge volumes of critical health data, including patient histories and digital imaging files.
Sussex HIS is responsible for the maintenance, troubleshooting, planning and implementation of this complex and widespread health network.
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