NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Boosts Healthcare Delivery with High-Performance Brocade Solutions

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Brocade(R) (NASDAQ: BRCD) , the leader in networked storage solutions that help enterprises connect and manage their information, today announced that NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, the clinical hospital of Columbia and Cornell Universities, is using Brocade Storage Area Network (SAN) directors to enhance diagnostic services and streamline administration for more than 1.5 million patients a year. In addition, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is using Brocade multiprotocol routing technology deployed by Brocade Professional Services for its first in-house disaster recovery solution, enabling the 2,200-bed institution to improve its business continuity by minimizing costly, critical service outages. Together, the Brocade systems and services facilitate the hospital's compliance with government security mandates, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

"Our Brocade solution lets us recover from a disruption in one or two hours instead of days or weeks, enabling us to sustain patient care faster and more cost-effectively in any emergency," said Billy Sakatis, IT Manager, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. "In addition, Brocade systems allow us to add servers and medical imaging applications that will help us maintain the quality of our care in all of our clinical areas as we grow."

Located in the heart of New York City, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has two primary campuses, each affiliated with an Ivy League medical institution: Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Weill Cornell Medical College. In recent years the 14,770-employee hospital has added many new services and IT systems to improve healthcare and serve an increasing number of patients. However, by 2006, the hospital's existing SAN infrastructure was nearing full utilization, and a new architecture was needed to support the deployment of additional servers and storage arrays for hospital applications.

As part of its new storage infrastructure architecture, the hospital expanded with Brocade 48000 Directors and multiprotocol routing technology in data centers at each of its sites. The hospital chose the solution due to the proven performance and reliability of the Brocade products it had been using for several years. In particular, the Brocade 48000 Directors combine 4 Gbit/sec Fibre Channel throughput with investment protection for future upgrades.

Although NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital IT staff installed the new Brocade directors, its IT personnel asked Brocade Professional Services to help deploy the Brocade multiprotocol routing technology. In May 2006, a Brocade engineer performed the onsite setup and configuration, and briefed hospital IT staff on using the new routers.

"The Brocade engineer did a great job upgrading firmware, optimizing the equipment, and explaining the new products," said Sakatis. "Acting as a trusted strategic advisor, he listened carefully to our needs, explained Brocade's methodology for addressing them, and then worked flexibly with us to design a good solution. In one case, he helped us resolve a critical issue regarding our fiber cable, and we completed the migration process in just one week."

After deployment was completed, IT staff members began switching to the hospital's new SAN architecture. "The process was simple and seamless," said Sakatis. "We were able to do a live migration by simply plugging one card into a Brocade 48000 while the former switch was running. Once the migration was complete, we just turned the old switch off and we were done. This saved us from having to take the system down and services offline."

Since then, IT personnel have been using the extra capacity to add storage devices and servers to support new Structured Query Language (SQL)-based systems and critical applications for such tasks as time and record keeping, billing, and operating room and patient file management. Moreover, servers have been added to support the hospital's new 100-terabyte General Electric Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), which stores and delivers medical images -- including x-rays, CAT scans, and MRIs -- to medical staff. As a result, doctors can complete and deliver diagnoses sooner, and collaborate more rapidly and effectively. Moreover, hospital staff can process admissions and discharges faster and more efficiently.

In addition to simplifying the SAN migration, the Brocade multiprotocol routing solution is providing connectivity between hospital sites to help protect PACS images. Each data center now contains a complete library of images from both sites, enabling fast recovery of patients' medical images in the event of an outage. Eventually, the routers will be used to back up all critical data and applications at both hospitals.

Previously, backups were completed using a tape backup system and copies were sent to and stored by an outside vendor. "If a disk went bad, we'd have to send for the tape backup, and it would take days or weeks for a recovery," Sakatis said. "In the meantime, users lost access to the system, which meant doctors and nurses couldn't use key files and applications, and patients waited longer for results. Now we have a system that streamlines the disaster recovery process from weeks to hours, while reducing costs. In addition, we have the capacity and scalability to continually provide a better standard of healthcare in the years ahead."

About Brocade

Brocade is the leading provider of networked storage solutions that help organizations connect, share, and manage their information. Organizations that use Brocade products and services are better able to optimize their IT infrastructures and ensure compliant data management. For more information, visit the Brocade Web site at http://www.brocade.com/ or contact the company at info@brocade.com.

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