St Andrews makes 70 per cent savings with new WLAN infrastructure

Wing 5 allows access points to prioritise data flow and increase security

Motorola launches Wing 5

Mental health charity St Andrews Healthcare has implemented a Motorola WLAN network at its Mansfield hospital, and intends to roll this out to its three other locations over the next 18 months.

The move was prompted by new legislation requiring the use of real-time location services (RTLS) for hospital staff and will see the cost of the hospital’s wireless infrastructure reduced by 70 per cent.

The charity chose Motorola's Wing 5, which utlilises 802.11n wireless technology and is a new architecture for wireless local area networks (WLAN) that is set to tackle the high levels of data traffic by operating at the edge of the network.

This means that data flow is pushed away from the wireless controller and access points (APs) are able to communicate with each other and create a more efficient route for all traffic.

APs are more expensive than data points, which were used by the charity's previous infrared system (at £700 each, compared with £95); however, because of the number of people who can be allocated to each AP – about 20 people in this case – St Andrews expects to make a saving of 70 per cent.

According to Paul Kirkpatrick, IT director for St Andrews Healthcare, this new WLAN structure offers great advantages for the Charity.

“Wing 5 will revolutionise the way hospitals operate. The real-time location service means our staff can be assured of their safety at all times," said Kirkpatrick.

Kirkpatrick explained that the personal staff alarm that had been used before the WLAN was installed did not protect staff in quite the same way. The system had relied on infrared technology which would ring an alert in the building if an employee was being attacked by a patient, and give other members of staff the general location of the attack.

However, if the member of staff moved after ringing the alarm, there would be no way of knowing where they had gone. The patient would also be made aware an alarm had been raised.

With the new wireless technology, employees are able to silently issue the alarm by removing a tag attached to their clothing. This will instantly raise an alert and provide the real-time location of the staff member.

St Andrews also used Motorola’s LANplanner, a system that allowed it to map and then optimise its network, meaning there were no black spots in the coverage. This is notable considering the technology was deployed in a grade II-listed building where such materials make wireless reach difficult.

On the subject of deploying a WLAN architecture within an organisation, Leif-Olof Wallin, research vice president at analyst Gartner, said: “When enterprises assess their WLAN architecture, they need to consider how futureproof it is. Standardisation is very important – you must insulate yourself from exposure to changing trends and allow for upgradeable components if change is required.”