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Latest Release:
Healthcare in Birmingham takes virtual route to improved patient care with Esteem Systems
23 June 2008
Users of the Birmingham Primary Care Shared Services Agency’s network (BPCSSA) look set to reap the benefits of virtualisation thanks to IT lifecycle specialists, Esteem Systems. The new virtual infrastructure will ensure BPCSSA is better placed to support its user base of over 6,000 healthcare workers, located across more than 300 NHS sites, and reduce its carbon footprint in the process.
BPCSSA provides essential non-clinical services to enable Birmingham’s Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to focus on patient care. Using VMware technology, Esteem will design and implement a new virtualised infrastructure on behalf of the Agency which will reduce the number of physical servers required down from 14 to 2. As well as improving performance and reliability for users, the solution will also save vital space and reduce power and cooling requirements.
For a shared system providing access to critical clinical applications and data, that also connects to the NHS N3 network; fast, effective storage and back-up is vital. To ensure users and patients aren’t affected in the case of a system failure, the new infrastructure will also use NetApp SnapShot technology to rapidly restore data. T he BPCSSA’s existing back-up tape library will be replaced with high speed, fibre channel technology providing faster access to data and increasing the storage capacity to nearly 40 terabytes. The new flexible storage area network (SAN) from NetApp will enable the Agency to scale up its IT platform at any point and increase overall useable capacity and performance.
Didier Meert, Technical Manager at BPCSSA, comments, “We have selected Esteem to deliver a robust system which is essential for our operations; our users rely on fast, secure access to deliver high levels of patient care. Virtualising our infrastructure and storage means we can provide better access and we will also make cost savings in terms of maintenance and power costs.”
Alastair Kitching, Commercial Director at Esteem, adds, “We are delighted to have extended our range of services to BPCSSA. We have been working with the Agency for several years so we fully understand their communication and technical requirements, and our solution will give a solid foundation to work from.”
If you require any further information, please contact our Press Officer on 01937 861000 or e-mail on press@esteem.co.uk
