Healthcare organizations increasingly turning to SD-WAN to propel next-generation networks that make digital transformation possible

PHILADELPHIA – November 27, 2019 –Comcast Business today announced that the nation’s leading hospital systems and healthcare organizations have deployed smart networks – fueled by the Comcast Business ActiveCore℠ software defined networking (SDN) platform – that enhance patient experiences and outcomes.

The increasing complexities associated with delivering patient care, managing confidential health records and meeting a host of regulatory requirements are challenging healthcare providers to seek technology solutions that enhance security and simplify compliance. At the same time, innovative healthcare technologies – from electronic health records to pill dispensing systems – are placing increased strain on healthcare providers’ networks, stalling performance sometimes to the point of ineffectiveness.

Comcast Business is helping clients in the healthcare space navigate these unique challenges and connectivity needs by deploying software-defined networking (SDN) and software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN), powered by ActiveCore. Because ActiveCore was designed with large networks in mind, Comcast Business can provide healthcare organizations with a seamless transition from legacy, low-bandwidth MPLS networks to high-bandwidth, multiple path SD-WAN – thereby improving the experience for both providers and patients.

Comcast Business is actively working with organizations across a range of medical settings, including one of the nation’s leading providers of physician services offering more than 4,200 physicians at hundreds of facilities across the country; an esteemed academic medical center in Texas; and one of the nation’s largest healthcare systems with more than 120 sites.

Additionally, Comcast Business ActiveCore was recently used by a New England-based not-for-profit, integrated health care system serving over 800,000 people to build out its data center and connect its three sites. If one site goes offline, everything running on that network is switched over to one of the other two sites, greatly reducing downtime.

Hospital patients want the best possible technology in their rooms; from TV services to keep them entertained to reliable phone networks and Wi-Fi connections that allow them to update loved ones via social media, email and messaging, but they also want the reassurance that their internet consumption isn’t going to interrupt the online connection of a life-saving surgery device in the or down the hall. With SD-WAN, hospitals can prioritize and direct traffic without sacrificing connectivity.

The daily work of healthcare providers puts patient lives in their hands, making every interaction and documentation of that interaction, mission critical. Every note that doctors and nurses’ type into a tablet doing rounds must be immediately stored and replicated off premise. SD-WAN provides application-specific routing with configurable, always-on packet replication guarantees, meaning there’s no chance of lost data even during a “circuit switchover.”

About Comcast Business

Comcast Business offers Ethernet, Internet, Wi-Fi, Voice, TV and Managed Enterprise Solutions to help organizations of all sizes transform their business. Powered by an advanced network, and backed by 24/7 customer support, Comcast Business is one of the largest contributors to the growth of Comcast Cable. Comcast Business is the nation’s largest cable provider to small and mid-size businesses and has emerged as a force in the Enterprise market; recognized over the last two years by leading industry associations as one of the fastest growing providers of Ethernet services.

For more information, call 866-429-3085. Follow on Twitter @ComcastBusiness and on other social media networks at http://business.comcast.com/social.


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Media Contacts:
Matt Helmke, Senior Director of Communications
Comcast Business
215.286.8666
matt_helmke@comcast.com