It doesn't matter what industry you're in, the most important resource that an organization possesses is time. When you save time, you're saving more than just money and nowhere is that more evident than at a hospital.

The Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University (ABMU) Health Board in Wales is using Cisco's Digital Network Architecture (DNA) to improve workforce, patient and visitor experience. No longer do doctors and nurses need to fill out forms and write notes and the staff is much more mobile. Both of these measures have allowed staff additional time which they have allotted to better care at the bedside and out in the community.

ABMU is not a small organization, there are 16,000 people on staff and the hospital group cares for 500,000 citizens of south west Wales and south west England. Making sure that the new IT strategy is up and running quickly and correctly was important.

The infrastructure is made up of Cisco products such as: Cisco Aironet 3700 Series Access Points, Cisco 5500 Series Wireless Controllers, Cisco Catalyst 2960-X Series Switches and the Cisco Catalyst 3850 and 6500 Series Switches. This infrastructure connects the Neath Port Talbot, Morriston, Singleton and Prince of Wales hospitals in the ABMU network. By being connected, clinical applications and large data files flow quickly and safely.

Speaking of safely, the entire network is secured by Cisco Identity Service Engine (ISE). ABMU easily establishes the firewalls and sets the security policies with ISE.

"Hospitals must have robust safety processes in places," said Gareth Siddell, ABMU Network Manager. "With Cisco ISE, only authorized personnel can use mobile devices to access a drug cabinet. Additionally, the pharmacy inventory tracking is automated by stock level and by prescriber."

Getting this project up and running didn't take very long either. Normally a six-month process, the ABMU IT team was able to deploy this network within two weeks.

The hospital group has been so pleased that they want to continue to build out the DNA platform by adding such functions as wayfinding and location-based services.

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