In this article, Network First’s JASON PEACH, principal consultant, talks about the impact of the new wireless standard, IEEE802.11ac, on healthcare organisations
The need to carry an increasingly-diverse set of applications from an increasingly-diverse set of users and devices means the adoption of new LAN and Wireless LAN standards is almost an imperative for a modern healthcare setting
Over the past few years, healthcare organisations have become increasingly progressive in their adoption of new ICT technology innovations, in particular wireless technology. This can be attributed to several drivers: the increasing budgetary pressures the NHS finds itself in; the need to improve efficiencies while improving patient care; and the need to empower and make best use of its staff.
Data in hospitals is growing as fast, if not faster, than in other industries. It is estimated that Jeremy Hunt’s paperless vision could, in fact, create an additional 60GB of data per bed, per year. That is a lot of data and doctors and other clinicians want to be able to access that data at any point and any location across the hospital.
The need to adopt innovative working for greater efficiency and improved patient care is coupled alongside other needs such as tracking expensive medical equipment resources and locating them quickly in an emergency, using RFID triangulation techniques. This is where IEEE802.11 – also known as wireless - comes in.
Early adopters
The NHS was an early adopter of wireless Local Area Network (LAN) technologies with the current standard IEEE802.11n, becoming increasingly aware of its potential to improve clinical efficiencies and patient outcomes. The massive investment made in new hospital developments via private finance initiatives (PFIs), has no doubt accelerated this adoption. New ways of working such as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) are also increasing the use of the wireless LAN.
The need to carry an increasingly-diverse set of applications from an increasingly-diverse set of users and devices means the adoption of new LAN and Wireless LAN standards is almost an imperative for a modern healthcare setting, where not only coverage is needed, but responsive and highly-secure ICT transactions relative to the individual user and device connected.
New standard
With the growth in demand for bandwidth and the need for speed, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world's-largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation, has developed the next generation of wireless technology, IEEE802.11ac. The new standard has taken the best of IEEE802.11n and has improved on it.
In many cases, the barrier to Wireless LAN adoption, especially associated mobility initiatives like BYOD, is not so much the technical constraints, but one of business or organisational culture
The new IEEE802.11ac Wireless LAN standard provides the additional raw bandwidth required to handle exponential use of Wireless-enabled devices – smartphones, tablets, laptops, printers, CCTV cameras, RFID tags and medical equipment.But the real need is to be able to provide context and control of this finite bandwidth so that users and applications can be appropriately prioritised, secured and access controlled, as applicable to their need and the organisation’s governing ICT policies.
In many cases, the barrier to Wireless LAN adoption, especially associated mobility initiatives like BYOD, is not so much the technical constraints given to solutions like IEEE802.11ac being developed, but one of business or organisational culture. An organisation needs to recognise that by improving its wireless capabilities, it can benefit from empowering its mobile workforce or enabling the consumers it serves to access services more readily.
A need for investment
The new wireless standard IEEE802.11ac will help healthcare organisations by providing increased bandwidth where needed and improving the security of the Wi-Fi environment. Each IEEE802.11ac will be able to cope with more devices in any given area of coverage – up to 100 concurrent devices per access point (AP) will be viable for many organisations running standard Desktop applications, whereas the current IEEE802.11n standard AP will typically support no more than 30 concurrent user sessions.
An organisation needs to recognise that by improving its wireless capabilities, it can benefit from empowering its mobile workforce or enabling the consumers it serves to access services more readily
In 2014 a Gartner report concluded that just 8.9% of wireless deployments will be IEEE802.11ac this year. However, the adoption of IEEE802.11ac will certainly be led by the healthcare sector as organisations recognise its positive impact.
This will be driven by clinical needs and the trend for BYOD support for clinicians and patients. It must be noted, however, it may not just require new IEEE802.11ac wireless APs to be installed. New wireless controller hardware or software may be needed as well as a revamp of the wired Access Layer LAN Switches that connect this new high-throughput APs – particularly if legacy LAN Switches are in place that don’t deliver 1000Mbps. These technical challenges need to be overcome and require qualified wireless LAN specialists to ensure these tasks are performed properly.
