Nestled in the picturesque Sierra Nevada mountain range, famous for its ski resorts, spas, and casinos, is Reno’s Renown Health. Renown is northern Nevada’s largest and most comprehensive healthcare provider and the only locally owned, not-for-profit system in the region. Renown boasts 6500+ employees across more than 70 facilities serving over 74,000 Nevadans every month. During ski season, it’s not unusual to see one or more helicopters hanging out on the roof of the hospital. Because of its location, the need for alternative modes of transport and communication are imperative to serving its remote community and ski slopes.
As with most hospitals, Renown is highly connected with medical devices, communications devices, mobile crash carts, as well as surgical robots, MRI machines, you name it—and it’s all connected to a centralized network that provides access to mission-critical data, applications, and services. This not only includes the production healthcare network but the guest network where patients and their friends and family communicate. And from what I hear, the guest network is also popular with the staff, which means that it must be as reliable and secure as the hospital’s production network.
A couple weeks ago, I (virtually) sat down with Dustin Metteer, network engineer at Renown Health, to learn a little bit more about how Cisco and Renown work together. Dustin started out by sharing that their wireless network wasn’t always as wonderful as it is today. He explained that Renown had been using another company’s access points (APs) for a few years. Long story short, they didn’t live up to expectations on both the hardware and software side. After a few years of trying to get this solution to work, Dustin and team moved to Cisco and the Aironet platform. The Cisco Aironet APs delivered the reliability, security, and ease of use that Renown needed. And for five years, the Cisco Aironet 3702 APs served Renown’s 70+ facilities with consistent wireless communications.
Today, Renown is moving to the next generation of Cisco APs with Wi-Fi 6 compatibility, more sophisticated chip sets, and the latest IOS-XE operating system all covered under a single Cisco DNA Advantage license. Dustin shared that healthcare facilities are typically late to adopt technology and the hospital isn’t stocked with Wi-Fi 6 devices. However, Dustin felt the move was necessary to ensure the network is ready when the time comes.
“While updating,” says Dustin “we thought, ‘Why not update to the latest technology and future proof the network?’”
And so that’s what they did.
Renown purchased its first batch of Wi-Fi 6-ready Cisco Catalyst 9120 Access Points along with Cisco Catalyst 9800-80 wireless controllers about a year ago. The healthcare company has updated several hospitals already. But with more than 70 facilities dispersed throughout the state, they’ll be busy for a while. The Catalyst 9120 has 4×4 radios, custom ASICs, and the ability to host applications at the edge. Additionally, it’s compatible with DNA Spaces (included with Cisco DNA Advantage) for location-based analytics which also has the ability to integrate with other healthcare specific applications for wayfinding, asset management, and more—we’ll get into this a little further down. But the real reason for the Catalyst 9120, is it’s a good fit for Renown’s highly demanding, high-density environment.
“We coupled our new 9120 Access Points with the Cisco Catalyst 9800-80 wireless controllers to push configurations and define policies for our WLANs,” says Dustin. “Provisioning is as easy as defining the policies and tags for each wireless network and assigning to each group of APs.” To add to that, policies based on identity and tags enable the hospital to segment users while ensuring secure access to resources and compliance. And updates can be done live without taking the wireless network offline. Seriously, and they don’t even have to restart or anything.
Of course, all good wireless networks have a great wired network behind them. Renown has also recently upgraded to the Cisco Catalyst 9000 family of switches to drive everything from the edge to the core. And for resiliency, Renown has deployed them in high-availability (HA) pairs. Here’s what Dustin says: “We always want to be prepared for any piece of anything to break and so we have backup all the way down to our core switches.”
And when asked about running everything from the switches to the controllers to the APs on the Cisco IOS-XE operating system, Dustin is excited that he can, “run commands across the stack and not worry about it.” He adds: “The usability is awesome.”
“We can simply log into Cisco DNA Center and it takes us five minutes to do what used to take hours.” That’s the first thing Dustin tells me when I ask about Cisco DNA Center. It set the stage for the next phase in our conversation around wired and wireless assurance in a healthcare system where 100% uptime isn’t just the standard, it’s mission critical.
Prior to Cisco DNA Center, the Renown team would wander around looking for the root cause of a reported issue and of course, it was rarely replicated. It’s like when you take the car to the mechanic for a noise it’s been making for a month, you pull into the shop and the noise is gone. But unlike the mechanic, the Renown team has Cisco DNA Center with Cisco DNA Assurance built in. This gives them X-ray like vision and allows them to trace an issue to its root cause, even something that happened days ago. Once an issue is identified, assurance provides them with remediation tips and best practices for quick resolution. Its advanced analytics and machine learning combine to reduce the noise of non-relevant alerts and highlight serious issues, saving them time troubleshooting. With Cisco DNA Center, the team has the assurance tools they need to increase network performance and spend less time doing it.
The Cisco Catalyst 9120 APs that Renown purchased also have the ability run Cisco DNA Spaces which provides a cloud-based platform for location-based analytics. Renown chose to use the Cisco DNA Spaces and STANLEY Healthcare integration to remotely track the temperature and location of medications and set alerts to prevent them from spoilage. In the past, thermostats needed be checked manually, one-by-one by nurses which was time consuming and labor intensive. Not only does the integration make temperature tracking more consistent, it also makes the nurses’ lives easier and allows them to focus on what matters most, caring for their patients.
Renown also uses the Cisco DNA Spaces and STANLEY Healthcare integration to track assets. Things like IV pumps, “are small and easily maneuvered and they tend to go walking,” says Dustin. It’s often complicated to track the locations of 30 to 40 assets at once, and many are lost or misplaced. Cisco DNA Spaces not only allows them to track down and locate misplaced devices, they use tags and set perimeters, and once a tagged device “goes walking” it sounds an alarm. This reduces lost equipment and saves on the time spent searching for missing equipment.
And when asked about deployment of the integration, Dustin says, “it was really simple to operate and going into Cisco DNA Spaces was very intuitive. Getting STANLEY Healthcare integrated with Cisco DNA Spaces was relatively painless.”
In the future, Renown is planning to use Cisco DNA Spaces in conjunction with their mobile app to help patients, visitors, and guests with indoor wayfinding. Patients often encounter difficulties pinpointing where in the healthcare facility their appointment is. Dustin says, “Using maps with Cisco DNA Spaces will enable patients to get to their appointments faster and more efficiently without the need to stop and get directions, it’ll give them a better experience.”
Renown’s new networking solution, comprised of the latest Cisco LAN gear, will provide the hospital system with reliable and secure connectivity for many years to come. With Cisco DNA Center, they are able to assure service while proactively troubleshooting potential issues to deliver users the optimal connected experience. And with Cisco DNA Spaces, Renown has simplified device monitoring and location analytics proving valuable insights and simplifying operations. And Renown is only partially through its LAN refresh. I look forward to following up with them to see how things turn out.
In closing, I posed a question to Dustin. With all this new equipment, have any of your users noticed a difference? Dustin explained that, “It’s kinda the best compliment when nobody says anything. The best IT team is the one that you don’t know you have.”
As with most hospitals, Renown is highly connected with medical devices, communications devices, mobile crash carts, as well as surgical robots, MRI machines, you name it—and it’s all connected to a centralized network that provides access to mission-critical data, applications, and services. This not only includes the production healthcare network but the guest network where patients and their friends and family communicate. And from what I hear, the guest network is also popular with the staff, which means that it must be as reliable and secure as the hospital’s production network.
Getting Wi-Fi with a little help from my friends (at Cisco)
A couple weeks ago, I (virtually) sat down with Dustin Metteer, network engineer at Renown Health, to learn a little bit more about how Cisco and Renown work together. Dustin started out by sharing that their wireless network wasn’t always as wonderful as it is today. He explained that Renown had been using another company’s access points (APs) for a few years. Long story short, they didn’t live up to expectations on both the hardware and software side. After a few years of trying to get this solution to work, Dustin and team moved to Cisco and the Aironet platform. The Cisco Aironet APs delivered the reliability, security, and ease of use that Renown needed. And for five years, the Cisco Aironet 3702 APs served Renown’s 70+ facilities with consistent wireless communications.
Today, Renown is moving to the next generation of Cisco APs with Wi-Fi 6 compatibility, more sophisticated chip sets, and the latest IOS-XE operating system all covered under a single Cisco DNA Advantage license. Dustin shared that healthcare facilities are typically late to adopt technology and the hospital isn’t stocked with Wi-Fi 6 devices. However, Dustin felt the move was necessary to ensure the network is ready when the time comes.
“While updating,” says Dustin “we thought, ‘Why not update to the latest technology and future proof the network?’”
And so that’s what they did.
Cisco Catalyst access points deliver on experience
Renown purchased its first batch of Wi-Fi 6-ready Cisco Catalyst 9120 Access Points along with Cisco Catalyst 9800-80 wireless controllers about a year ago. The healthcare company has updated several hospitals already. But with more than 70 facilities dispersed throughout the state, they’ll be busy for a while. The Catalyst 9120 has 4×4 radios, custom ASICs, and the ability to host applications at the edge. Additionally, it’s compatible with DNA Spaces (included with Cisco DNA Advantage) for location-based analytics which also has the ability to integrate with other healthcare specific applications for wayfinding, asset management, and more—we’ll get into this a little further down. But the real reason for the Catalyst 9120, is it’s a good fit for Renown’s highly demanding, high-density environment.
“We coupled our new 9120 Access Points with the Cisco Catalyst 9800-80 wireless controllers to push configurations and define policies for our WLANs,” says Dustin. “Provisioning is as easy as defining the policies and tags for each wireless network and assigning to each group of APs.” To add to that, policies based on identity and tags enable the hospital to segment users while ensuring secure access to resources and compliance. And updates can be done live without taking the wireless network offline. Seriously, and they don’t even have to restart or anything.
Of course, all good wireless networks have a great wired network behind them. Renown has also recently upgraded to the Cisco Catalyst 9000 family of switches to drive everything from the edge to the core. And for resiliency, Renown has deployed them in high-availability (HA) pairs. Here’s what Dustin says: “We always want to be prepared for any piece of anything to break and so we have backup all the way down to our core switches.”
And when asked about running everything from the switches to the controllers to the APs on the Cisco IOS-XE operating system, Dustin is excited that he can, “run commands across the stack and not worry about it.” He adds: “The usability is awesome.”
Taking control with Cisco DNA Center
“We can simply log into Cisco DNA Center and it takes us five minutes to do what used to take hours.” That’s the first thing Dustin tells me when I ask about Cisco DNA Center. It set the stage for the next phase in our conversation around wired and wireless assurance in a healthcare system where 100% uptime isn’t just the standard, it’s mission critical.
Prior to Cisco DNA Center, the Renown team would wander around looking for the root cause of a reported issue and of course, it was rarely replicated. It’s like when you take the car to the mechanic for a noise it’s been making for a month, you pull into the shop and the noise is gone. But unlike the mechanic, the Renown team has Cisco DNA Center with Cisco DNA Assurance built in. This gives them X-ray like vision and allows them to trace an issue to its root cause, even something that happened days ago. Once an issue is identified, assurance provides them with remediation tips and best practices for quick resolution. Its advanced analytics and machine learning combine to reduce the noise of non-relevant alerts and highlight serious issues, saving them time troubleshooting. With Cisco DNA Center, the team has the assurance tools they need to increase network performance and spend less time doing it.
Cisco DNA Spaces + STANLEY Healthcare: Helping hospitals help patients
The Cisco Catalyst 9120 APs that Renown purchased also have the ability run Cisco DNA Spaces which provides a cloud-based platform for location-based analytics. Renown chose to use the Cisco DNA Spaces and STANLEY Healthcare integration to remotely track the temperature and location of medications and set alerts to prevent them from spoilage. In the past, thermostats needed be checked manually, one-by-one by nurses which was time consuming and labor intensive. Not only does the integration make temperature tracking more consistent, it also makes the nurses’ lives easier and allows them to focus on what matters most, caring for their patients.
Renown also uses the Cisco DNA Spaces and STANLEY Healthcare integration to track assets. Things like IV pumps, “are small and easily maneuvered and they tend to go walking,” says Dustin. It’s often complicated to track the locations of 30 to 40 assets at once, and many are lost or misplaced. Cisco DNA Spaces not only allows them to track down and locate misplaced devices, they use tags and set perimeters, and once a tagged device “goes walking” it sounds an alarm. This reduces lost equipment and saves on the time spent searching for missing equipment.
And when asked about deployment of the integration, Dustin says, “it was really simple to operate and going into Cisco DNA Spaces was very intuitive. Getting STANLEY Healthcare integrated with Cisco DNA Spaces was relatively painless.”
In the future, Renown is planning to use Cisco DNA Spaces in conjunction with their mobile app to help patients, visitors, and guests with indoor wayfinding. Patients often encounter difficulties pinpointing where in the healthcare facility their appointment is. Dustin says, “Using maps with Cisco DNA Spaces will enable patients to get to their appointments faster and more efficiently without the need to stop and get directions, it’ll give them a better experience.”
Visibility, control, experience, and analytics
Renown’s new networking solution, comprised of the latest Cisco LAN gear, will provide the hospital system with reliable and secure connectivity for many years to come. With Cisco DNA Center, they are able to assure service while proactively troubleshooting potential issues to deliver users the optimal connected experience. And with Cisco DNA Spaces, Renown has simplified device monitoring and location analytics proving valuable insights and simplifying operations. And Renown is only partially through its LAN refresh. I look forward to following up with them to see how things turn out.
In closing, I posed a question to Dustin. With all this new equipment, have any of your users noticed a difference? Dustin explained that, “It’s kinda the best compliment when nobody says anything. The best IT team is the one that you don’t know you have.”
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