Growth is a part of any successful business. Unfortunately so are the pains that come with that expansion. Consider Louisiana's largest non-profit, academic, healthcare system: Ochsner Health System. During the last 10 years, Ochsner Health System has exploded from one hospital to 28 owned and affiliated hospitals, 50 health centers, a fitness chain, hotel, retail stores and more.

That's a Manute Bol growth spurt.

Within any business, but especially hospitals, communication is key. That's why the Ochsner IT department was charged with making sure that all of these new organizations were gathered under the same umbrella, network-wise. To make sure that everyone was speaking the same language on the same strong, flexible and manageable infrastructure, Ochsner Health System turned to Cisco.

The wireless network infrastructure was put into place by using Cisco Aironet 2700 and 3700 Series Access Points along with Cisco Catalyst Series switches. Once the hardware was up and running, the hospital group needed to be on the right side of HIPAA and PCI compliance; that's when Cisco Identity Service Engine (ISE) was deployed. The use of ISE limited the impact of security breaches and allowed the hospital to enact new services like BYOD for their employees.

With the new wireless network Ochsner Health System is turning its gaze towards the future by allowing their physicians to partner with on-site doctors in rural locations. This allows them to see patients in hard-to-reach areas without leaving their offices.

Ochsner Health System CTO Roy Sookhoo says that this is just the beginning. He envisions hospital staff getting phone alerts from bedside devices through wearables and third party apps, as well as Louisiana specialist treating patients from around the world without leaving the hospital campus.

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