Swiss hospital complex undertakes complete revamp of network infrastructure

Paris, France – July 30, 2015. Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) has been selected by l’Hôpital du Valais in Switzerland as part of the creation of a telecom plan and the complete overhaul of its network infrastructure. L’Hôpital du Valais combines nine hospitals and one central institute and is the biggest employer in the district with close to 5,000 employees. Its annual turnover exceeds 500 million Swiss francs.

Because many hospital services are now available online, there has been a huge increase in traffic on the network compared to previous years, which meant that the network was struggling to cope with the demand. Faced with an aging infrastructure, l’Hôpital du Valais recognized the urgent need to update its infrastructure, bandwidth capacity and technology.

Therefore, in 2010, l’Hôpital du Valais launched a competitive tender process that resulted in the decision to deploy a Brocade Ethernet fabric with partner BNC Business Network Communications AG. The move comes as part of the hospital’s network modernisation in order to help it deal with the changing demands made on a modern network infrastructure but also reducing operational costs and automating services. The deployment of the Ethernet fabric-based network architecture includes three different but complementary elements: the datacenter with the Ethernet fabric technology, the interconnection with WAN routers and the integration of campus network switches.

**The telecom plan and infrastructure overhaul  **
In 2010, l’Hôpital du Valais began testing the deployment and finalised it in 2014. It includes a datacenter supporting all hospital sites and is dispatched between two different locations.  Access to the datacenter is protected through a firewall which leads to the WAN backbone connecting the two sites with the use of a Metro Ethernet Fabric based on the VDX technology.  

Additionally, every hospital is equipped with a campus-type network with terminal which is based on a star topology with 10/100/1000Mbits/s port for access devices, connected to a distribution Switch/Router. This router is then connected to the WAN Backbone.

 “We chose the BNC/Brocade proposal as it exactly matched our needs, particularly in terms of services. Brocade proposed the integration of all the functions into a single system. In addition, their business proposition was way more attractive,” explained Léo Kalbermatten, Head of infrastructure at l’Hôpital du Valais.

In fact, the Ethernet Fabric technology paired up with a centralized WAN router and ICX switches deliver a unified solution enabling a complete virtualisation of the network functions and therefore optimizing costs and services.  

Advantages and Benefits of Brocade solutions
-  Optimal performance by enabling replacement of old equipment
-  No technological break: the fabric is compatible with all the equipment available, allowing gains in terms of data centre and network evolution
-  Flexibility: Elements can be added as needed, scaling up as required by new applications
-  Entire virtualization of the network infrastructure enabling cost reductions and hospital services automation

Extension of the Ethernet Fabric on a second datacenter
This year, l’Hôpital du Valais decided to extend the Ethernet Fabric to a second datacenter based in Sierre (Switzerland). Once the project is finalized, the global infrastructure will be equipped by 25 to 30 VDX switches, 2 MLX routers and more than 200 ICX campus network switches.

 “We’re really happy with the services Brocade has provided. They have been with us through all stages of the deployment and we’ve worked closely with them to roll out this solution, which perfectly meets our needs,” concluded Léo Kalbermatten.