The march toward IP integration

Work remains, but the path to a single network is getting clearer.

Exempla Healthcare's three-hospital network uses an OC-3 ring to link about 15 buildings in the Denver area. "We run 225 different applications," says Exempla CTO Lots Pook. "And 45 or so have to run on a stand-alone network because they can't ride our IP network."

Even networks within buildings have to be doubled up to meet legacy demands. For example, fetal monitors have to be wired separately using Category 5 cable because they run a 16-volt pulse signal. In the legacy-heavy, highly regulated healthcare industry, such applications are not uncommon.

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Exempla Healthcare's three-hospital network uses an OC-3 ring to link about 15 buildings in the Denver area. "We run 225 different applications," says Exempla CTO Lots Pook. "And 45 or so have to run on a stand-alone network because they can't ride our IP network."

Even networks within buildings have to be doubled up to meet legacy demands. For example, fetal monitors have to be wired separately using Category 5 cable because they run a 16-volt pulse signal. In the legacy-heavy, highly regulated healthcare industry, such applications are not uncommon.

Also: Ups and downs - the benefits and drawbacks of IP integration

In its newest facility, Pook's team is getting a taste of the good life, with merged voice and data and a higher percentage of applications running on IP. "I can run that at a much lower cost," Pook says. However, Exempla won't be all-IP any time soon, as long as healthcare companies require specialized networks to meet patient and regulatory needs.

While the industry at large marches toward an integrated IP future, most organizations still have to deal with a collection of legacy networks.

How many? Even when you don't have to support special equipment, there can be as many as a half-dozen, according to Nick Lippis, CEO of consultancy Lippis Enterprises. In addition to voice and IP, there's still some semblance of SNA networks in most companies, say nothing of video networks, dial-up networks, one devoted to alarms and physical security, and a wireless network (albeit one that's typically leased).

While the assumption is that, over time, all traffic is collapsed onto IP, questions remain about everything from the motivations and risks to the impediments to integration. The migration is slow, steady and methodical.

Gartner analyst Bob Hafner says there's a slew of activity around IP migration, but nothing resembling a tidal wave. "Has anybody moved all their networks to a single network? Not yet. We're in the early stages. Key opportunities are being addressed, but you don't see an overall strategic plan."

The key opportunity of choice, not surprisingly, is IP telephony. In informal surveys, Gartner finds 80% of companies have some sort of IP telephony program in place, "but it may be anything from a trial with five phones to an entire 2,000-person location," Hafner says.

Contributing factors

Among corporations migrating to IP, cost is the primary driver. In 2003 when the Cancer Therapy and Research Center installed storage-area networks in its buildings in San Antonio, Texas, CTO Mike Luter opted to link them using iSCSI rather than the more traditional Fibre Channel, meaning the storage traffic could ride the IP network.

Cost was the biggest factor, Luter says. The center's buildings are 22 miles apart, and "to do Fibre Channel, we would have had to put another fiber in. With iSCSI we were able to use existing fiber."

The center installed Cisco SN 5428 storage routers in both locations to consolidate storage resources on shared EMC Clariion arrays, and the 5428s are linked via iSCSI over the IP network.