Industry Case Study
MPLS in the HealthCare Industry
MPLS is an additional service you can add to your business’ ethernet connection that enables fast access data transfer between multiple points.
While this may not be suitable for small businesses with only one location, there are a ton of industries that really benefit from this type of networking, namely the healthcare industry.
Healthcare organizations send confidential patient medical records, imaging, video, and other important data every day, which have to follow strict regulatory mandates. Healthcare information must meet privacy standards and assure that it is being properly shared and distributed. This is where MPLS shines.
Ask an iTel expert how MPLS actually works
Scenario 1: Sending data a remote location
Imagine you break your leg skiing and find yourself in an emergency room for some x-rays. Turns out it’s a bad break and the ER doctor wants to send your x-rays off to a specialist for further review.
Plot twist: The specialist works out of a separate office.
Now, your x-rays have to be transferred between two different locations while still abiding by medical regulatory requirements.
Bring in MPLS.
An IP VPN can create a large hospital network that utilizes class of service (CoS) to prioritize specific data. This will ensure it reaches its end destination as quickly and as securely as possible.
Scenario 2: Remote Surgery
Remote surgery is the ability for a doctor to perform surgery on a patient even though they are not physically in the same location. It is a form of telepresence. Remote surgery combines elements of robotics, cutting edge communication technology such as high-speed data connections and elements of management information systems.¹
In this scenario, the hospital’s internet connection is quite literally a matter of life and death.
A doctor performing remote surgery needs a flawless, 100% redundant, and private network to connect the remote surgeon to the onsite robot. Latency and interruptions are simply not an option.
The answer? MPLS.
High-Speed Data Transfer
MPLS will create a private, L2 connection between the remote surgeon and the hospital. If delivered over fiber, the connection will be point-to-point and lightning fast so the doctor can perform actions in real-time with no latency.
Layer 2 Connectivity
With MPLS, data is not traveling over the public internet, instead via L2 connectivity, which is a total game changer. This means that data is sent on the lowest latency, private path with a 100% SLA.
Quality of Service
MPLS will utilize QoS to give top priority to mission-critical data like live surgery video.
The bottom line:
With the help of communication technology, the healthcare industry is cutting edge. MPLS helps create better access to research, more efficient communication, and of course groundbreaking innovation like remote surgery.
¹ Remote Surgery, Wikipedia (Dec. 2016)
