North Shore-LIJ Health System turns to Optimum Lightpath for metro Ethernet
March 13, 2006 Jericho, NY -- Optimum Lightpath has been selected to deploy and maintain a metro Ethernet WAN for the North Shore-Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health System. The WAN will replace an existing ATM network with an IP backbone network that will incorporate Layers 1 and 2 functionality into both campus and remote locations. Lightpath says the network's design will enable a migration path for geographically supporting bandwidth-intensive IP applications throughout the system.
"We were looking for an advanced network infrastructure that could grow to support all of our data, Internet, voice , and video needs," comments John L. Bosco, vice president and CTO of North Shore-LIJ. "The network upgrade is meant to power all the new applications that we're rolling out to enhance our patients' quality of care."
As the main reasons for the upgrade, the healthcare system cites its implementation of a diagnostic imaging system for its radiology and cardiology departments and the installation of a clinical information system to electronically maintain patients' medical records. The network will also support wireless devices used for data transfer and voice communications, as well as a telemedicine program.
In terms of core architecture, Lightpath says the North Shore-LIJ network will incorporate 10-Gbit/sec Metro Ethernet connections linking Long Island Jewish Medical Center (New Hyde Park, NY), North Shore University Hospital (Manhasset, NY), the North Shore-LIJ Center for Advanced Medicine (Lake Success, NY), and the hospital system's remote data center. Community hospitals and physicians' offices will connect to the core data centers via 50-Mbit/sec metro Ethernet circuits. The redundant network is set for completion in the second quarter of 2006.
"Healthcare providers nationwide are seeking to improve the level of care they provide and to comply with new regulatory requirements, such as HIPAA, but are finding that their existing networks cannot effectively support the deployment of these new technologies and applications," comments Dave Pistacchio, Optimum Lightpath's executive vice president and general manager. "North Shore-LIJ is addressing its additional bandwidth demands by working closely with Optimum Lightpath [to implement a] metro Ethernet network that will scale to support all of its...bandwidth needs, while also being resilient enough to address its business continuity requirements."
Optimum Lightpath is the business telecommunications services division of Cablevision Systems (Bethpage, NY).