Presidio Leverages Medical Grade Network and Radio Frequency Identification Solutions to Revitalize Healthcare Provider Infrastructures

GREENBELT, Md., Oct. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Today's care provider organizations (CPOs) face greater challenges than ever before in an increasingly competitive marketplace driven by higher service expectations, heightened regulatory oversights, diminishing budgets and staffing shortages. On top of these challenges, healthcare IT departments are shouldering the brunt of the burden. Presidio Networked Solutions, Inc., the leading provider of professional and managed services for advanced IT Lifecycle Solutions, stated today that leveraging Cisco's Medical-Grade Network for critical infrastructure upgrades will dramatically improve patient care and sustain higher levels of organizational growth. With a complete suite of integrated hardware and software offerings, Presidio's solutions encompass imaging and storage, network visibility, device and asset management, radio frequency identification (RFID) and unified communications enablement technologies, in combinations tailored to suit CPOs' specific requirements.

Presidio believes that CPOs can no longer rely on legacy technologies, which foster the continued use of inefficient manual processes. Todd Brinegar, Chief Marketing Officer for Presidio Networked Solutions, Inc. commented: "Recent developments in infrastructure technologies have paved the way for more secure and effective health management solutions that deliver lower total cost of ownership and improved patient care. Presidio's comprehensive portfolio of healthcare industry solutions and professional and managed services is designed to help CPOs implement new technology simply, affordably and effectively."

To reinforce its position, Presidio cites the successes of two CPOs that have made key infrastructure investments to enhance patient care, streamline operations and increase workforce effectiveness while sustaining growth:

Sparrow Health System: The pending expansion of its multi-site campus, specifically a state-of-the-art tower facility to house its emergency department and a new trauma unit, among others, posed a considerable logistical challenge for Sparrow. With lives literally hanging in the balance, Sparrow needed a trusted IT advisor and project manager to assist with moving the project forward quickly, transparently and with absolutely no downtime. Presidio assisted in the design of a flexible, converged network with an optical core, allowing for the fastest possible reliable transmission of information -- with zero downtime. Presidio also assisted with the project's financing, by extending equipment leasing terms, allowing Sparrow's network upgrade to be both affordable and achievable.

Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital (PPMH): PPMH's high standard of business operations and quality patient care were being negatively impacted by the unstable nature of its network infrastructure, which caused regular system- wide failures and major disruptions to the operating room, nursing center and pharmacy, and network-wide wireless network voice communications outages. Presidio replaced PPMH's outdated switching and routing infrastructure with an advanced, fully redundant Cisco network and implemented enhanced wireless communication solutions that enabled innovative asset tracking, expanded voice, data and RFID capabilities, while providing for a secure and accessible free guest-access network for PPMH's patients and their visitors. By deploying a redundant network with centralized functionality, Presidio was able to provide the hospital with advanced features such as rapid network access to patient medical orders and seamless data integration with support tools that reduce errors by eliminating the need for hand-written prescriptions. Overall, Presidio's deployment of MGN solutions dramatically increased efficiency and productivity throughout the organization.

"We never had issues with our new Cisco network. Presidio built in the redundancy we required to keep the system up and running, even during system maintenance and upgrades," said Michael Elder, Phoebe Putney Memorial's Director of Technical Services. "It used to be that when I'd meet technology directors at other hospitals and explain PPMH's network problems, they would share how great their Cisco networks were working. Now, I'm the one doing the bragging about how much Presidio and Cisco have done for us."

Presidio Networked Solutions augments its comprehensive service portfolio designed to address the unique needs of CPOs in its collaboration with Presidio Managed Networks and Presidio Technology Capital: Presidio Managed Networks enables CPOs to allow IT personnel to focus on internal objectives and improving patient care by facilitating network and device management out- tasking. Presidio Technology Capital provides a range of financial support options, to assist CPOs in the procurement of advanced technology upgrades, including capital preservation, predictive technology refresh, and flexible programs such as FAS 13 operating leases, project finance and equipment decommissioning.

About Presidio Networked Solutions, Inc.

Presidio Networked Solutions, Inc., the leading provider of advanced IT Lifecycle Solutions, addresses the complete technology lifecycle -- plan, design, integrate, operate and optimize -- for the enterprise, commercial and government markets. Presidio's comprehensive solutions portfolio comprises unified communications, wireless, security, storage, network infrastructure and managed services. Holding the highest networking industry certifications from vendor partners Cisco, IBM, Sun, EMC, NetApp, VMware and Microsoft, Presidio Networked Solutions is well positioned to meet the growing needs of customers migrating to advanced technologies. Presidio also offers customers an extensive range of financing solutions, including leasing.

The name Presidio Networked Solutions is a registered trademark of Presidio, Inc.

SOURCE Presidio Networked Solutions, Inc.