New Orleans, LA
Welch Allyn today announced that it has entered into a joint technology and marketing partnership with Aruba Networks to enable the Welch Allyn FlexNet(TM) wireless patient monitoring system to seamlessly and securely operate on Aruba's 802.11-based mobility solution. The companies have worked together to ensure that Aruba wireless local-area networks (WLANs) and the Welch Allyn solution provide the reliability and quality of service necessary to support critical patient telemetry applications such as continuous monitoring.
"We selected Aruba Networks as a technology partner due to the advanced security, mobility, and Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities of the Aruba Mobile Edge(TM) Architecture," said Doug Linquest, executive vice president, Monitoring and Defibrillation at Welch Allyn. "Aruba Networks understands the clinical care environment of our customers and has been very successful in enabling mobility in many leading hospitals around the world."
FlexNet links multiple devices such as ambulatory wireless monitors and hardwired and wireless bedside monitors to Acuity® Central Monitoring Stations. It can support comprehensive patient monitoring networks while providing superior noise tolerance and communications integrity, and can coexist with the hospital network or be installed as a separate network.
The Aruba Mobile Edge Architecture is well-suited for this type of mission-critical application. Aruba mobility controllers are "application-aware," meaning they can identify the type of application corresponding to each packet or session, and prioritize it accordingly. This capability is critical for latency-sensitive applications, including continuous patient monitoring where the waveforms must be delivered with no time delay or interference due to the life-critical nature of the data. Aruba and Welch Allyn have worked together to ensure that Aruba controllers recognize all Welch Allyn monitoring applications.
"Today, the typical hospital maintains over three radio networks--one for enabling mobility for clinical data applications such as electronic medical records (EMR) and computerized physician order entry (CPOE), another for their cordless PBX, and yet another for patient monitoring," said Peter Mongroo, global healthcare marketing for Aruba Networks. "We are pleased to be working with Welch Allyn to provide medical professionals and hospital IT staff with simplified, high-performance solutions with which to deliver superior care."
Because of its ability to prioritize data traffic and assure QoS, the Aruba mobility infrastructure is a cost-effective solution for multiservice networks and reducing the complexity of hospital wireless networks. Additionally, the Aruba solution provides a very high level of network security to help healthcare institutions comply with HIPAA requirements.
FlexNet communicates with each of Welch Allyn's rugged and reliable wireless patient monitors including the Micropaq® and Wireless Propaq® CS devices.
About Welch Allyn
Founded in 1915 and headquartered in Skaneateles Falls, New York (USA), Welch Allyn is a leading global manufacturer of medical diagnostic equipment and a complete range of digital and connected solutions. With over 2,300 employees working in 17 different countries, Welch Allyn specializes in helping doctors, nurses, and other frontline practitioners across the globe provide the best patient care by developing innovative products, breakthrough technologies, and cutting-edge solutions that help them see more patients, detect more conditions, and improve more lives. More information about Welch Allyn and its complete line of connected products and solutions may be found at www.welchallyn.com.
