(translation of the 'Semana Informática' article available in http://www.semanainformatica.xl.pt/839/est/200.shtml)
Luísa Dâmaso
Week nº 839, May 25 to 31, 2007
Open source technologies set a new phase for 40 departments of this Oporto hospital.
There was no normalization in computer equipments neither in network usage management. It was emerging the need to redefine the information systems based on Windows NT Server with isolated networks and standalone computers. Therefore Hospital Geral de Santo António (HGSA) decided to implement a modernization process for the infrastructure and information systems.
Patient management, ambulatory, imagiology, laboratories, pharmacies and stock management are some of the areas that got the new technology option brought by the administration, that choose IPBrick, the iPortalMais solution.
“We wanted to innovate in this field, to put in operation something different from traditional implementations and bring up open-source products, taking advantage of Linux performance and power” justifies César Quintas, HGSA technical responsible.
The financial issue is also referred by this responsible to explain the iPortalMais solution option - “How much would we pay for the licenses of a Microsoft solution?”
César Quintas also tells that the total investment in hardware, software and services was less than the cost that would result from the Exchange licensing for the server and 1200 computers.
The modernization project was conducted in several stages. The physical network restructuring included the installation of 3600 double network plugs and the installation and configuration of new active equipment for the network. It took one year to migrate the network. The system redefinition phase included the intranet installation. Seven IPBrick.I were implemented, the network support service (LDAP, DNS, DHCP) and the email service (IMAP/POP3, SMTP) were configured, as well as individual, group and function accounts. At the communications level HGSA installed one IPBrick.C (proxy HTTP/FTP, mail relay, antivírus, anti-spam).
On the job migration
The following phase consisted in the normalization of user names, computers and file shares, as well as the domain integration of the workstations (1200 computers) with the data migration of 2000 users (individual and functional) to servers.
HGSA service director, Maria Manuel Salazar, assures that this process covered near 40 hospital departments, without a single service interruption. They managed to keep the old system (based in Windows NT) and the new one (based in IPBrick) working together while it was necessary”.
Raul Oliveira, iPortalMais CEO says that most of the work aimed the users well-being, instead of the servers. The reason lays in “automatic and very simplified configuration” in the installation process. “We tried to invert the traditional time spent by computer departments, caused by difficult servers configuration and maintenance, that leads to less attention to workstations improvement, having direct impact in the performance of people working there”.
Concerned with the dimension and characteristics of an hospital, iPortalMais adopted a careful approach. The first caution was the assurance that the migration from the solution based on Windows NT to IPBrick didn't have restlessness episodes. In this way the prior and the new system users should keep communications and operations without interruptions. Raul Oliveira stresses that HGSA network and system administrators involvement with the IPBrick´s new technology was very important, in order to enable them the system maintenance, even in the implementation phase.
“We trained the technicians involved in the project with the procedures for each workstation, in order to assure that the 1200 computer settings were systematic and coherent”, explains iPortalMais CEO.
Homogeneous environment
The necessary additional hardware for this project development was already part of the hospital acquisitions plan. The seven HP Proliant ML350 Rackmounted series machines were distributed by three data centers. The HGSA responsible technician explains that "the constructed solution supplies 14 times more band width, and seven times more processing capacity to users". Cesar Quintas relates that IPBrick servers also have disaster recovery mechanisms, allowing the system reinstall in half a dozen minutes. "The probability of the service to stop is very low; it would require ll the servers to damage at the same time".
The HGSA Service Director says that at the present moment there is an homogeneous environment in every hospital departments. Now they have a distributed service with user and support authentication services (LDAP, DNS, DHCP), as well as final user services at the level of files and email, distributed by seven IPBrick servers (one is the master) with a centralized and friendly management and configuration. “Definitely, there is a functional and robust environment”.
After this project, the administration plans to implement a document management system, also working with open source technologies. César Quintas
explains that “it will be a IPBrick server with iPortalDoc, integrated with the other IPBrick servers”.
For the communications area it's planned an IPBrick.GT implementation to assure voice and data communication over IP (VoIP). In the content domain, the hospital plans to implement a Corporate TV to give information to its patients. There is also the idea to introduce RFID solutions.
Institution credits
Hospital Geral de Santo António
Address: Largo Prof. Abel Salazar
Telephone: 222 077 500
URL: www.hgsa.pt
Number of users: 3200
New application users: 2000
Responsible biographies
Name: César Quintas
Function: HGSA technical responsible
Name: Maria Manuel Salazar
Function: HGSA Service Director
Name: Raul Oliveira
Function: iPortalMais CEO
Implementation synopsis
Product name: IPBrick
Supplier: iPortalMais
Integrators: Siemens/iPortalMais
Licensing: 7 IPBrick licenses