Mercy Memorial implements CDW's disaster recovery solution to increase reliability of critical clinical applications

CDW Healthcare, part of the public sector subsidiary of CDW Corporation and a leading provider of technology products and services to healthcare organizations, today announced that Mercy Memorial Hospital of Monroe, Mich., launched an extensive server virtualization and disaster recovery solution acquired from CDW Healthcare. The initiative represents the latest stage in the hospital’s drive to streamline network management processes and increase the reliability of clinical applications.

Founded in 1929, Mercy Memorial Hospital is a 238-bed, full-service community hospital serving Michigan’s Monroe and Lenawee counties as well as the Detroit metropolitan area and northwest Ohio. The hospital’s services include labor and delivery, cancer care, home health and hospice care, physical rehabilitation therapy and dialysis treatment.

“Server virtualization provides benefits far beyond simplified data center management – it can significantly increase the performance and reliability of critical clinical applications,” said Bob Rossi, vice president of CDW Healthcare. “When implemented in conjunction with technology enhancements such as full network redundancy and offsite backup, virtualization can help provide caregivers with the stable, reliable data environment they need to deliver quality care.”

Prior to its recent network upgrade, Mercy Memorial outsourced all of its network management processes to an external third party. Additionally, its clinical information environment was complicated by the practice of storing one application on each server, which created the potential for significant system downtime in the event of a single hardware failure. Realizing that it needed to create a robust, sustainable network managed by its own internal resources, Mercy Memorial turned to CDW Healthcare.

CDW Healthcare technology specialists collaborated with Mercy Memorial’s IT operations staff to understand the hospital’s unique network requirements. After completing a comprehensive needs assessment, the CDW Healthcare team recommended a customized EMC solution including CLARiiON, Centera and Avamar hardware/software as well as VMware virtualization technology. Mercy Memorial deployed this technology to create two data centers – one located at its main campus and a separate offsite facility to provide access to critical patient data in the event of network failure in the central hospital.

Mercy Memorial’s server environment is now almost fully virtualized, allowing IT staff to more easily manage the hospital’s clinical applications, including an electronic medical record (EMR) solution deployed at the point of care. Additionally, the technology provides Mercy Memorial with full network redundancy, automated archiving and data de-duplication capabilities that enhance the functionality of critical systems.

“The difference between our previous server environment and our current virtualized environment is staggering,” said Eric Mynster, IT operations manager for Mercy Memorial Hospital. “Our applications run faster and perform better, and our IT staff isn’t burdened with the headaches of managing a fractured network. CDW Healthcare’s product knowledge, responsiveness and attention to detail were critical in enabling us to implement a network solution that will help our clinicians provide rapid, quality patient care.”

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