Overview
The Nomentana hospital is a healthcare structure of 17,000 covered square meters, with a wooded park, a rehabilitation park, a lecture hall for conferences and seminars, a therapeutic pool, two gyms for neuromotor rehabilitation, all managed by a staff consisting of doctors, physiotherapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, nurses and auxiliaries, and an endowment of 551 beds.
The hospital management realized that without centralized and functioning Wi-Fi connectivity that is really accessible everywhere, it would not be possible to support either the patients or the healthcare personnel. The key needs of Nomentana were therefore: to have a centralized and easy-to-use platform providing an access portal for the guests, easy-to-manage licensing, and implemented devices that were certified for use in a healthcare environment.
The Gruppo CTY in collaboration with WTC Service has carried out the analysis of the structure, and designed and built the network infrastructure.
In the first place, a map of the structure was drawn up, which made it possible to design the optimal coverage.
For the implementation, Cambium Networks apparatus and software solutions were chosen. More specifically, the cnMaestro cloud management platform was implemented, together with six cnMatrix EX2028-P switches, and seventy Wi-Fi 6 XV2-2. access points. The products used for the network infrastructure have the EN 60601-1-2 certification in order to be placed in medical environments, thereby guaranteeing a very low electromagnetic impact on other [medical] equipment that is present.
After receiving the equipment, the switches were configured with the WLAN to which they belong (hospital staff, patients, company LAN, etc.) and were then configured with the relevant firewall rules. After doing tests on a couple of access points, all others were then easily added, with a total configuration duration of approximately one week.
The results are satisfactory and feedback on use of the network is positive in spite of the numerous speed limits and content filters imposed by the administrators on the various WLAN segments. “Our new network infrastructure allows us to effectively support all the services and functions we need for correct and modern hospital management, from connectivity for guests to the management of electronic medical records”, underlined Filippo Berloco, Health Director of Nomentana Hospital.