HEALTHCARE
IT EDGE
Healthcare IT Edge - Digitalization Puts New Demands on Distributed Networks
Healthcare was in the midst of a digital revolution before the pandemic. Now the pace of change has accelerated, and the pressure is on to expand edge computing across the network.
Healthcare Infrastructure Challenges
With patient care increasingly dependent on edge technology, IT downtime becomes more disruptive and more costly — and reliable, well-designed IT infrastructure more valuable.
Growing IT and IoT Networks
Today, healthcare IT not only must support multiple closets across the hospital but an expanding network of urgent care, imaging, outpatient surgery, and other remote facilities, all while data growth and new services increase the demand for compute across the network. One of the drivers of data growth is the healthcare Internet of Things (IoT), which, when supported with reliable infrastructure, can improve patient care and automate workflows. Remote sites need data centre-quality infrastructure, while many existing closets need to be upgraded to meet new demands. IT resources managing the growing network are being stretched to the breaking point.
AI on the Way
The next wave of disruption coming to the healthcare edge will likely include artificial intelligence (AI). AI-enabled decision-making supports faster and more accurate diagnostics. Applying AI to healthcare IoT data can help improve outcomes in a variety of situations, including post-surgical care. Edge computing, and the infrastructure that supports it, brings processing closer to the point of care, providing clinicians with near real-time access to insights.
Telehealth Is Here to Stay
Telehealth became a vital tool in enabling providers to manage the disruption of 2020. With benefits to patients and providers alike, it is positioned to play an even bigger role in the future of healthcare delivery. But the makeshift solutions put in place in response to the pandemic won’t provide the long-term reliability and scalability needed to grow this capability. As distributed sites evolve into mission-critical patient care hubs, IT infrastructure must evolve as well to deliver higher availability and simpler management.
Vertiv Solution to Healthcare IT Challenges
Protect Critical Applications From Downtime
From compact 1U UPS systems that meet the needs of space-challenged closets to free-standing, modular UPS systems that can power a remote site, Vertiv offers a complete range of healthcare-ready UPS solutions. Vertiv™ UPS solutions are designed to maximize the flexibility, scalability, and efficiency of healthcare IT management, with standardized designs built around common technology building blocks. They provide excellent runtimes through the internal, hot-swappable battery and can be configured with external batteries to support longer runtimes. They also feature programmable power outlets that enable battery capacity to be reserved during an outage for the most critical devices.
Vertiv™ Liebert® GXT5 UPS models deliver online double conversion power protection in a compact, reliable design that is ideal for the most critical healthcare applications. Our line-interactive Edge models feature automatic voltage regulation to deliver advanced pure sine wave output on battery. Vertiv™ UPS systems with valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) batteries are backed by a three-year warranty. Vertiv™ UPS systems with lithium-ion batteries are backed by a five-year warranty.
Distribute Power Within the Rack
Ensuring consistent power quality is only part of the challenge of powering edge sites. You also need to be able to distribute power within the rack. Vertiv™ Geist™ intelligent rack power distribution units (rPDUs) can do more than just reliably distribute power within the rack. They provide visibility into rack and device power consumption and can even enable outlets to be turned on and off to remotely cycle connected equipment.
Remotely Manage Edge IT and Infrastructure
Vertiv™ intelligent infrastructure solutions enable remote monitoring of the UPS, and unit-level and outlet-level power usage through our intelligent rPDUs. They are supported by Vertiv™ Environet™ Alert, an easy-to-deploy monitoring solution that generates alerts if environmental conditions that could threaten equipment operation exist, so you can take action proactively.
But when it comes to monitoring and management, we go beyond IT infrastructure. Vertiv helps simplify the management of distributed IT through a family of KVMs and advanced console servers. Vertiv™ Avocent® KVM over IP switches provide streamlined local and remote management of IT equipment to enable control of server and serial targets from a single console.
Our Vertiv™ Avocent® ACS 800 and ACS 8000 serial consoles provide in-band and out-of-band remote access to servers, routers, network switches, firewalls, UPS systems, and rPDUs. With these powerful tools, you can monitor, manage, and troubleshoot remote systems to minimize downtime and eliminate the time spent traveling to edge sites for maintenance and troubleshooting.
Minimize the Impact of Growing Heat Loads
With increased IT density, heat can build to dangerous levels in small spaces. For open racks, a ceiling-mount cooling solution delivers zero-footprint temperature and humidity control. Cooling can also be integrated within an enclosed IT rack to create a self-contained, controlled environment for your IT systems. Rack cooling solutions, such as the Vertiv™ VRC, are ideal for network closets, imaging rooms, and other mission-critical healthcare applications.
For closets supporting communications equipment, the Vertiv™ Geist™ Switchair® is a simple and effective rackmount device that creates a path for cool air to flow from the front of the rack to a switch or to the router’s side air intake. Available in active (integrated fan) or passive models, the Geist™ Switchair® is easy to install and works within the same rack space as the device it is supporting. It can be deployed as a standalone solution to improve airflow or as a complement to a dedicated cooling system.
Streamline Deployment With Integrated Solutions
If your network is expanding or you’re performing a complete upgrade across multiple edge sites, you need to deploy infrastructure quickly. Vertiv integrated rack solutions eliminate the need for on-site integration while ensuring infrastructure is tailored to your equipment and environment. Systems are delivered IT-ready with integrated UPS, rack power distribution units (rPDUs), cooling, and remote management capabilities.