Lowell General Hospital Selects Aruba Networks Wireless LAN to Address BYOD and Increasing Number of

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Lowell General Hospital Selects Aruba Networks Wireless LAN to Address BYOD and Increasing Number of Wireless Medical Devices While Meeting Stringent Healthcare Security Requirements

Mobile and Remote Access to Patient Information and Critical Applications Enables Greater Efficiencies for Hospital Staff and Physicians

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Aruba Networks, Inc. (NAS: ARUN) today announced that Lowell General Hospital is deploying a new Aruba wireless LAN that is designed to accommodate the increasing number of wireless medical devices and approved employee-owned personal devices connecting to the organization's network, while meeting the stringent security requirements of healthcare facilities. The network will also improve remote access for the hospital's executive staff and contracted physicians. By expanding access to patient information and critical hospital applications from physicians' practices and executives' home offices, the network is enabling greater efficiencies and improved patient care.


Lowell General Hospital is an independent, not-for-profit community hospital serving the greater Lowell, Massachusetts area and surrounding communities. With two primary campuses, the hospital offers the latest state-of-the-art technology and a full range of medical and surgical services for patients from newborns to seniors.

Like many healthcare organizations, Lowell General Hospital is facing an increase in the number of devices that are accessing its wireless network, such as wireless EKG machines, heart monitors and other biotelemetry devices. Lowell General Hospital is also seeing a rise in the number of staff and physicians wanting to bring their own devices to access crucial enterprise applications.

To accommodate this demand while meeting HIPPA privacy and other security requirements, Lowell General Hospital realized it needed a new wireless LAN. After evaluating solutions from six vendors, Lowell General Hospital selected Aruba for its ability to handle an increasing number of wireless devices without sacrificing network performance. It also chose Aruba for its advanced security capabilities, including its built-in firewall, which allows the creation of rules and policies to filter people and devices as well as the ability to separate the guest network from the main hospital network.

Lowell General Hospital's new Aruba WLAN will support a wide range of applications including the hospital's Cerner electronic medical records (EMR) program, wireless clocks, wireless EKG carts, the hospital's Citrix system, an Ascom phone system for voice over Wi-Fi nurse calls and an innovative patient identification program. This patient identification program provides nursing staff with hand-held mobile devices running the hospital's EMR program to enable positive patient identification and help ensure the accurate administration of drugs and treatments.

"Increasingly, heart monitors and other medical devices are going wireless, crucial patient data is being digitized and there is a growing need for both employees and equipment to be mobile," said Greg Panagiotopoulos, Technology Manager for Lowell General Hospital. "With our new Aruba WLAN, we're confident that we can meet the current demands of our users as well the future needs we'll encounter as the number of wireless-enabled medical devices escalates and as our facilities expand."

Working with Akibia, a Zensar company and a leading provider of Infrastructure Management solutions based in Westborough, Mass., Lowell General Hospital is deploying the new Aruba 802.11n network across two campuses and a new six-story tower. The new network will include over 350 Aruba AP-105 and AP-125 access points (APs), which are designed for maximum deployment flexibility in high-density environments, and two Aruba 6000 Series Mobility Controllers, which deliver a wide range of network services to large campus networks. Lowell General Hospital is also using Aruba's AirWave network management system to provide enterprise-wide clarity and control through real-time monitoring, historical reporting and troubleshooting - capabilities that are important for enabling a secure BYOD environment.

Lowell General Hospital will also use 30 Remote Access Points (RAPs) to deliver high-speed, secure network services to remote locations such as contract physician offices and hospital executive homes.

"The Aruba RAPs are ideal for securely connecting small- to medium-sized physician offices and executive homes to the network," continued Panagiotopoulos. "Our physicians and executives are more efficient when they can access critical information and enterprise resources from their own practice or home. In addition, our IT department loves how easy the Aruba RAPs are to configure and administer, and they appreciate being able to push changes such as security upgrades and encryption schemes out to the remote sites quickly and without the need for a technician visit."

"Healthcare facilities like Lowell General Hospital present some of the most challenging environments for wireless LAN technology, given the number of devices accessing the network, the critical nature of the information being transmitted and the need for ironclad security," said Gerry Festa, director, industry solutions marketing for Aruba. "That's why they are choosing Aruba to deliver a secure, reliable and flexible wireless LAN that enables their physicians and staff to deliver a consistently high level of patient care."

About Aruba Networks, Inc.

Aruba Networks is a leading provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise. The company's Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE) architecture unifies wired and wireless network infrastructures into one seamless access solution for corporate headquarters, mobile business professionals, remote workers and guests. This unified approach to access networks enables IT organizations and users to securely address the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomenon, dramatically improving productivity and lowering capital and operational costs.

Listed on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000® Index, Aruba is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific regions. To learn more, visit Aruba at http://www.arubanetworks.com. For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook, and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products visit Airheads Social at http://community.arubanetworks.com.

© 2012 Aruba Networks, Inc. Aruba Networks' trademarks include the design mark for AirWave, Aruba Networks®, Aruba Wireless Networks®, the registered Aruba the Mobile Edge Company logo, the registered AirWave logo, Aruba Mobility Management System®, Mobile Edge Architecture®, People Move. Networks Must Follow®, RFProtect®, Green Island®. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.



Aruba Networks, Inc.
Dayle Hall, +1-408-754-8059
Senior Director, Corporate Marketing
dhall@arubanetworks.com
or
LSH Communications for Aruba Networks
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