Stanford University Medical Center Goes Wireless With Trapeze Networks
PLEASANTON, Calif. – Sept. 13, 2004 – Trapeze Networksâ„?, today announced that Stanford University’s Medical Center, a world-class training ground for future leaders in biomedical research and medical practice, is using Trapeze’s award-winning wireless local area network (WLAN) Mobility Systemâ„? to provide wireless access to students, faculty, and administration.
Many of Stanford’s buildings have been around for over half a century. These buildings are typically made of thick concrete and lead walls, which are difficult for radio frequency (RF) signals to penetrate. Adding wireless capability to these types of buildings can prove to be a formidable task.
In order to outfit Stanford’s Lane Medical Library with enough wireless capacity for everyone who enters, Ryan Braner, network specialist at Stanford, needed to find a comprehensive WLAN solution that would make it easy to plan, configure, verify and manage the library’s special requirements. He also needed to support the school’s long-term plan to deploy a secure, flexible and reliable WLAN across the entire 1.5 million square-foot campus.
“We installed the Trapeze Mobility System in Stanford’s Lane Medical Library,” said Braner. “The next big project was Stanford’s Medical Center. The Mobility System covers 25 buildings on the Stanford Medical Center campus. With the Trapeze Mobility System Softwareâ„? running on the Mobility Exchangeâ„? (MX) switches, we’re able to update the configurations for Stanford’s Mobility Pointâ„? (MP) access points with the click of a mouse,” continued Braner. Trapeze MXs maintain the intelligence of the Mobility System, manage users’ identities as they roam, and configure and control all aspects of MPs and third-party APs. By year end, the Medical Center expects to scale the Mobility System by adding more MPs distributed across its campus.
In both Stanford’s Medical Center and the Lane Medical Library, the Trapeze WLAN is used mainly by students and faculty to check email, explore resources on the web and access the university intranet. The radiology group in Stanford’s Medical Center also exchanges large Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) image files wirelessly through Trapeze’s Mobility System.
Wireless access is allowing Stanford University Medical Center to better serve its community and meet the expectation of constant, anytime-access to the Internet. Students, faculty and staff who work in multiple labs now can easily move from one location to another while staying connected and still have access to vital information.
“At the end of the day wireless networking is about providing mobility and flexibility,” Braner noted.
About Stanford University Medical Center
Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions – Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. For more information, please visit the Office of Communication & Public Affairs site at http://mednews.stanford.edu.
About Trapeze Networks
Trapeze Networks delivers the power of business applications and services to the mobile enterprise workforce. The company’s wireless LAN Mobility System enhances productivity, introduces new efficiencies and accelerates business response time by delivering secure mobility for roaming users and sophisticated services for both users and IT, all while offering the lowest total cost of ownership of any WLAN infrastructure provider. Trapeze has been the recipient of seven industry awards in recognition of its product and technology strength. Founded in March 2002, Trapeze raised $50 million in venture funding to date and is headquartered in Pleasanton, Calif., U.S.A. For more information, please visit www.trapezenetworks.com.