Aruba Provides Wireless Network For Hampshire County Council's First-Of-Its-Kind Nursing Home Scheme
Leading WLAN Provider is First Choice for Implementing Next-Generation Wi-Fi Technology Throughout Ten Nursing Homes
LONDON - August 18, 2005 - Aruba Networks has announced that its next-generation mobility system has been selected to create a groundbreaking health and social care network for Hampshire County Council (HCC).
Aruba's centralised wireless LAN (WLAN) technology will be used to enable mobile working within ten new nursing homes, currently being built around the county. HCC is the first local authority in the UK to build and run its own network of nursing homes, with the Aruba installation being part of the £60 million project.
HCC has initiated this project to meet the pressing need for more nursing home beds in Hampshire, and to reduce hospital waiting times and 'bed blocking'. To do this, HCC is building a state-of-the-art, system-wide Wi-Fi infrastructure for the planned ten new homes. Aruba's mobility system will give care staff secure wireless access to all networked resident care records.
Due to the sensitive nature of patient records, security is vital for HCC. Aruba's mobility system uniquely combines a variety of security mechanisms, such as RF security, encryption, user firewalling and client integrity, directly into a centralised platform. Consequently, Aruba's system gives HCC a centralised protection strategy that ensures any user attempting to connect to the network is authenticated before access is allowed.
"Aruba came closest to best meeting our need for a secure and user friendly centralised mobility network," said David Wigley, Senior IT consultant at HCC. "The great benefit to our staff will be having paperless access to the nursing care system, whether in the office or at a resident's bedside. In addition, there are also real gains from having a centralised electronic records system, rather than numerous paper held records."
The installation will include ten Aruba 800 mobility controllers and more than 100 thin access points (APs) to ensure all homes can easily have secure access to the wireless network throughout the facilities. Aruba's mobility controller system frees administrators from the costly and time-consuming process of managing individual APs, and is the only mobile security system in the industry with an integrated stateful firewall and hardware-based encryption.
"HCC is known for being one the most innovative and leading edge councils in terms of forward-looking technology investment," said Bob Vickers, UK General Manager for Aruba. "Healthcare providers have for a long time been looking for new ways to increase efficiency within the sector. A wireless network - particularly one that is centrally managed and inherently secure - provides health and social care workers with much greater flexibility in carrying out their duties. Care staff in Hampshire will have access to patient information from anywhere within the new nursing homes, without having the unnecessary worries of paper files and insecure data."
HCC and Hampshire NHS are working jointly on this innovative project, and three purpose built and designed nursing homes have so far opened in Fareham, Aldershot and Andover. A further three will open this summer, with the entire project expected to be completed by late 2006.
About Hampshire City Council
Hampshire County Council is a major provider of services and a major employer in the South East of England. The Council makes a significant contribution to those living in the county, delivering a wide range of services such as social services, education, environment services and business and economic development support. Hampshire County Council is a large, dynamic, successful and 'excellent' rated authority, and is the third largest county in England, with a population of 1.25m residents. The County Council is made up of 78 councillors who represent the county, and are responsible for making budget decisions and policies on local services. Visit Hampshire County Council at http://www.hants.gov.uk/
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