| Vista Primary Care aims to bring its 21st-century | | | | and without relying on any other third-party |
| diagnostic and preventive health services to | | | | technology or provider, it also empowers the |
| people across Ireland, and it's relying on a licensed | | | | organisation to move large amounts of data to |
| wireless network to help fulfil its vision. | | | | virtually any location across Ireland. |
| In Ireland, the future of healthcare probably looks | | | | A dedicated service delivers for Vista: |
| a lot like Vista Primary Care. Kildare-based Vista is | | | | * Rapid rollout: Following the first consultation, the |
| Ireland's first primary-care campus, located just | | | | Vista network was brought live within 7 days with |
| meters from Naas General Hospital. Its chief | | | | a 10Mbps link scalable to 155Mbps. This is |
| tenant is K-Doc, a group of general practitioners | | | | uncontended symmetrical bandwidth from the |
| serving more than 240,000 patients. The EUR25 | | | | Naas campus, via a high site on Kippure Mountain, |
| million centre boasts the kind of scanning and | | | | direct to AirSpeed's centre in Citywest. |
| diagnostic equipment which was previously only | | | | * Proactive, managed service: The managed |
| available in a hospital setting, and which includes | | | | service model allows Vista to perform its work |
| one of the world's few 4D CT scanners. | | | | with confidence: constant monitoring of the |
| Vista offers ophthalmology, orthopaedic, | | | | network means that any issues can be spotted |
| pharmacy and medical imaging services, including | | | | and addressed quickly, before Vista ever feels |
| diagnostic services like general X-ray, ultrasound, | | | | any impact. "We've not had one minute of |
| MRI and CT. Darragh Kettle, Commercial Manager | | | | downtime," Darragh notes. |
| for Vista, is emphatic about the importance of | | | | * Fast scalability, nationwide reach: The rapidly |
| medical imaging to the venture. | | | | deployable and scalable licensed wireless network |
| "Medical imaging is a principal component of the | | | | infrastructure offers important flexibility as Vista |
| whole project," Darragh said. "But it's also the | | | | grows its business and requires links to more |
| highest risk. A key to our success is our ability to | | | | clinicians and hospitals across Ireland. |
| get images to any point in the country, and that | | | | Darragh says licensed wireless is undoubtedly the |
| was going to be difficult using traditional | | | | right technology for Vista, from both a usability |
| broadband." Diagnostic imagery produced by Vista | | | | and a security point of view. |
| is analysed by radiologists and other specialists | | | | "Any network is only as secure as your |
| who then produce reports, including selected | | | | encryption software and applications -- I think |
| images, which can be viewed by the referring | | | | security is less to do with the carrier or the |
| physicians or hospitals over a secure web | | | | network technology than with the generator and |
| interface. The radiologists' report "packages" are | | | | processor of the data," he says. "We're very |
| not bandwidth intensive, but the original diagnostic | | | | happy to work with this technology. Also the |
| images are -- a single 4D scan may contain 8,000 | | | | whole notion of managed and licensed is desirable, |
| images totalling 14GB. If the radiologists viewing | | | | because there is a lot of unlicensed, unmanaged |
| the original images are not based at Vista, all files | | | | wireless out there." |
| need to be transmitted to them, wherever they | | | | The rapid, hassle-free setup also allowed Vista to |
| may be in Ireland. | | | | move quickly with services that will let it recoup |
| This is the heavy-duty telecommunications | | | | its large investment in leading-edge medical |
| challenge Vista brought to the market. The | | | | technology. |
| solution was a high-bandwidth, licensed wireless | | | | "Our CT scanner alone (Aquilion ONE by Toshiba) |
| network. | | | | cost EUR2.30 million and we would never be able |
| High-performance medical imaging demands high | | | | to maximise that technology without licensed |
| bandwidth After considering fibre and other fixed | | | | wireless, because other available technologies can't |
| line options, Darragh said Vista quickly opted for a | | | | deal with those file sizes," Darragh says. "We can't |
| licensed wireless network delivered as a managed | | | | afford to drip feed images -- if a patient is |
| service by AirSpeed Telecom. | | | | critically ill, images have to be transmitted right |
| Licensed wireless networks use microwave radio | | | | away. Technically, fibre can do this level of data |
| technology to deliver highly secure, reliable | | | | transmission, but we didn't have fibre here in |
| connectivity at extremely high bandwidth. In | | | | Naas, the cost of bringing it here was prohibitive, |
| Ireland, this means connectivity can be delivered | | | | and the time factor was just too long. Licensed |
| anywhere in the country, including rural regions | | | | wireless is the right technology for what we do." |
| not currently served by broadband or connected | | | | Dublin Office |
| by fibre. | | | | 15 Magna Drive |
| Darragh notes that although Vista looked at fixed | | | | Citywest |
| line and fibre, it quickly stopped exploring avenues | | | | Dublin 24 |
| other than licensed wireless because of the | | | | Tel: +353 1 4287500 |
| technology's obvious good fit with Vista's needs. | | | | Fax: +353 1 4287555 |
| The licensed wireless network not only lets Vista | | | | Email: sales@airspeed. |
| reach any hospital within the M50 without a cable | | | | |