Overview
HealthSignals, a leading solutions provider specializing in Senior Living technology infrastructure, created a Wi-Fi as a Service (WaaS) solution based on their Medical Grade Wi-Fi® platform that supports the needs of both residents and staff at Fairmount Homes retirement community.
HealthSignals, a leading solutions provider specializing in Senior Living technology infrastructure, created a Wi-Fi as a Service (WaaS) solution based on their Medical Grade Wi-Fi® platform that supports the needs of both residents and staff with only one IT staff member.
Challenge – Campus-Wide Wi-Fi
THE CAMPUS INCLUDES two four-story apartment buildings, 53 standalone cottages, a personal care center and a healthcare center. They needed to extend the Wi-Fi coverage to include all residential areas. The campus has an average of 448 unique devices using the network daily. In addition to ensuring that a solid infrastructure was in place for the residents’ need for web surfing, email and streaming video, the network had to be able to securely support medical applications, pharmacy carts and Electronic Medical Records (EMR) access for the staff. The network now allows for staff to serve the entire campus while staying attached to the core network, dramatically increasing productivity and efficiency.
Solution
FAIRMOUNT CHOSE HEALTHSIGNALS to provide consistently reliable connectivity across their campus. HealthSignals provides reliable Medical Grade Wi-Fi® across the campus and manages the network. This allows Fairmount to utilize a single IT staff person to support their applications.
Outdoor Infrastructure and Wi-Fi at Remote Locations
THE WI-FI INFRASTRUCTURE SOLUTION options were for either a fiber gigabit passive optical network (GPON) fiber to the premises (FTTP) solution or point-to-multipoint (PMP) fixed wireless technology. The cost and time required to trench fiber across the campus drove the decision toward the fixed wireless infrastructure solution. The solution includes Cambium Networks’ PMP 450i that connects 55 XV2-2 indoor Wi-Fi APs at the cottages. “Using Cambium’s LINKPlanner software, we modeled several different types of equipment in order to fit our designated specifications of delivering a minimum of 100M throughput to each household,” says Bruce Weintraub, CEO and Founder, HealthSignals. “Each of the separate cottages has a single Wi-Fi AP to cover the 1,200 – 1,600 square footage area.”
Indoor Wi-Fi Access at Multi-Dwelling Unit (MDU) Locations
ADDING COTTAGES AND APARTMENTS ENHANCED their existing Cambium network of 55 APs by installing 78 of the new Wi-Fi 6 APs. “In these locations, our design is based on our delivery of Medical Grade Wi-Fi® using a coverage specification of -65dBm minimum RSSI to 100% of the living area of each unit,” says Bruce.
Centralized Management and Wi-Fi as a Service
FAIRMOUNT ELECTED TO MOVE FORWARD with Medical Grade Wi-Fi® platform using Wi-Fi as a Service (WaaS). This freed up necessary capital for other mission-critical projects. HealthSignals uses cnMaestro and XMS-C cloud management systems from Cambium Networks. This gives them the ability to monitor the network performance 24/7 and have network engineers and technicians engaged to monitor, troubleshoot and resolve issues before they escalate. “Because this is a managed service provided by HealthSignals, Fairmount’s IT person can focus on maintaining the applications that drive their community. Wi-Fi and Internet issues are directed to HealthSignals and resolved appropriately,” says Weintraub.
Value Delivered
EACH QUARTER, HealthSignals delivers to Fairmount a detailed report on network performance. The campus has a daily average of 448 unique devices using the network at an average rate of 400Tb per month, with the trend showing an increase of bits of 69% over the last 12 months. Over this same time period, trouble reports have decreased from multiple calls per week to less than two calls per month.