Case studies

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust operates a Cisco wired and wireless network that supports a range of users, clients and applications.

The trust has a high density of access points to support increasing numbers of wireless clients. This includes device tracking of medical devices and internet of things (IoT) devices, currently numbering in the hundreds and used for monitoring fridges, pharmacy stock monitoring, door access, and for building management systems. The dense wireless coverage also supports Wi-Fi telephony, which is offered on corporate mobiles and helps address issues with poor mobile telephone network coverage within the hospitals.

The wireless network supports a range of users, including partner access (using GovRoam) and patient Wi-Fi (with restricted bandwidth). Clients joining the network are automatically posture checked and provided with an appropriate profile. 802.1x is used to apply virtual local area networks (VLANs).

The Cisco DNA Centre is used to manage switches, while the Firewall Management Centre is used to manage firewalls and IPS. ThousandEyes is used to monitor application performance and to assist with fault management.

While the trust uses management tools to help identify and diagnose network and application performance issues, it is not currently using any automated remediation of issues. This is due to nervousness about unsupervised changes being made to the network, particularly outside normal office hours when the IT team is not on site.

The Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Trust has an extensive wired and wireless data network that supports around 7,000 devices daily and a wide range of user types and use cases. The network is based on Cisco technology and upgraded to new hardware around 18 months ago.

The wired network utilises 10G connections, while the wireless network comprises around 650 access points, providing Wi-Fi 6 and 6e connectivity, including to outdoor areas, such as car parks.

These networks support a range of use cases, including guest internet access for visitors and patients.

Wireless connectivity is becoming increasingly important. Seamless roaming is already available across the organisation, and this supports Wi-Fi telephone handsets. The wireless network also supports clinical pagers and an increasing number of IoT devices. These already number in the hundreds and are used for building management, such as monitoring air conditioning and pumps. Increasing demand for wireless connectivity means that the trust believes it is possible that a ‘wireless first’ or ‘wireless-only’ approach to providing client connections for some use cases is not too far away.

This large network is managed by 2 network staff. Network management is simplified using a range of network management tools, and through standardisation only 3 models of switch are used across the network. The trust uses the Cisco DNA solution. The Meraki Dashboard is used to monitor the wireless network and automatically back up device configurations. The ThousandEyes platform provides details on network and application performance to assist the IT team with incident identification and triage.

The ThousandEyes solution is useful for identifying the supplier that should be allocated incidents, particularly for cloud-based services, where the internal IT and multiple suppliers are involved in their end-to-end delivery. ThousandEyes access is also provided to staff who are responsible for the management of these cloud applications, for example, the electronic patient record (EPR) support team. This means that they are able to identify and triage issues with the applications without the involvement of the IT team.

The trust is currently introducing Cisco’s software-defined access solution. This will initially be used to assist with connecting new devices to the network.

West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust has implemented a wired and wireless network solution from Extreme Networks, utilising ExtremeWireless and ExtremeSwitching equipment. The network supports around 4,500 clients across 4 locations and a range of use cases, including support for EPR, mobile workstations, and IP telephony.

The trust has a small network team. The ExtremeContol and ExtremeAnalytics solutions provide visibility and control of network and application performance and security from a single location. 

The trust also uses ExtremeCloud IQ for troubleshooting and network management and believes the solution supports faster resolution of issues and reduces the amount of resources required to manage the network. The solution provides visibility of application traffic flows through the wired and wireless network, and into the cloud. This means that issues that occur outside the on-premise infrastructure can be identified and resolved.

The trust uses the digital twin capabilities of the extreme solution to design and test new network infrastructure prior to deploying it. They believe this improves security, reduces operational costs, and accelerates innovation.

Loughborough University had a large number of devices on the network, a growing wireless demand, and separate wireless and wired networks, which resulted in complex and congested networks. Their typical solution of adding more capacity to the network was no longer suitable and required a rethink. Device permissions and onboarding were completed manually, requiring significant resources and was prone to human error.

The university worked with Cisco to implement a Cisco Software-Defined Access Network and Cisco DNA Centre. The software defined access network meant new devices could be easily added to the network, segmented, automated for security profiling, and monitored. The DNA centre also provides a greater understanding of what is happening on the network, the devices and users and indicates any potential issues. The DNA centre also provides a historical lens for trend analysis and appropriate escalation pathways for any issues that emerge.

The solution has resulted in improved network access for staff, students, and visitors, who can more easily remain connected when moving around campus.  It has also reduced the resources required to manage network access and issues, improve network security and provide greater network visibility.