R&M Gives Al Hammadi Hospital a Network Infrastructure Makeover

Reichle & De-Massari the Swiss cabling solution specialist announced today it has completed a network infrastructure makeover for Saudi Arabia’s Al Hammadi Hospital.  Al Hammadi Hospital is one of the Kingdom’s largest private hospitals and is the latest in a series of significant cabling installations done by R&M.

The Saudi healthcare sector is known as one of the most advanced in the Middle East, offering comprehensive and expert medical care services to the Kingdom’s citizens.  Hospitals and practitioners, however, must continually improve the level of health care services as well as stay abreast of medical best practices.  This includes continual upgrades in medical equipment and facilities, starting with investing in a state of the art network infrastructure.

This was the decision Al Hammadi Hospital took as they decided to add a new hospital wing and upgrade their facilities.  Al Hammadi is considered one of Saudi’s leading health care facilities, having started operations in 1985 and has now since become the largest private hospital in Riyadh.  As part of the expansion plan, Al Hammadi Hospital decision makers agreed that improving the network infrastructure as a ground base step was of the utmost importance.

R&M understands the special requirements for such a critical sector like the healthcare sector, and has completed several projects throughout the Middle East and Saudi Arabia.  Most recently in the Kingdom, the Swiss cabling company completed the installations of its modular solutions for King Khaled University Hospital’s (KKUH) network infrastructure expansion. This and several other reference projects gave them an advantage of understanding the special requirements of a healthcare facility.

For Al Hammadi, R&M recommended the installation of Category 6 LSZH (low smoke zero halogen) cable for maximum levels of protection against any high sources of heat in a hospital building. The advantage is that Category 6 LSZH releases low smoke zero halogens in case of proximity to high heat or fire.

Tool-less Category 6 connection modules as well as PCB free and OM3 LSZH fiber cables were also installed.  To ensure maximum protection against potentially disruptive elements in addition to heat, R&M also provided the water and dust protection outlets as part of the protection plan.  The installation of protection outlets is recommended and in accordance with IP54 for areas that have these utilizations.  In total, R&M installed 2,900 new connection points throughout the hospital’s expansion area.

Protecting data transmission is critical in a health facility as numerous patient records are stored and need to be accessed quickly; at times in urgent situations. In line with these needs, R&M’s network plan recommended that a small data center should also be configured.

For the data center connectivity, R&M advised the installation of off-set copper panels capable of handling 24 ports each and high quality tested unirack fiber panels. These solutions guarantee optimum results for the operation process as well as data transfer.

R&M also addressed one of the key requirements for Al Hammadi’s new network which is that it needed to be scalable in order to accommodate future operations and the expected data traffic increases over the coming years.  R&M’s entire product portfolio of passive and active solutions have the ability to adapt, enlarge and be customized, keeping any network infrastructure running at its optimum with zero down time or slow down regardless of peaks in data traffic.

R&M’s Swiss manufactured solutions were also a determining factor in being tapped for the project.  R&M’s Swiss quality solutions were appreciated and comply with Al Hammadi’s desire to implement the highest levels of quality for the network.  This ensures that Al Hammadi meets current national and international facilities standards.

R&M also supplemented the renowned Swiss quality of their products by providing timely on the ground support.  R&M’s local office in Saudi provided responsive consultation and guidance on R&M’s copper and fiber range in order to craft a solution to meet Al Hammadi’s requirements.  As a result, hospital network planners chose R&M over their competitors.

R&M’s local partner on the project was Wipro Arabia. Wipro Arabia Limited (WAL) is a joint venture between Wipro Limited and Dar Al Riyadh, one of the Kingdoms most respected and admired organizations. Headquartered in Bangalore, India Wipro Limited provides comprehensive IT solutions and services, including systems integration, information systems outsourcing, IT enabled services, package implementation, software application development and maintenance, and research and development services to corporations globally.  Wipro Arabia is a strategic IT partner to some of the biggest names in Saudi Arabia providing IT services and solutions across various sectors such as telecom, banking, oil and gas, government and healthcare.

R&M Saudi and Wipro Arabia have worked together on several projects and maintain a long standing relationship of collaboration.  For the Al Hammadi Hospital expansion, their R&M certified installers provided a timely and error free installation, supported by a deep knowledge of R&M’s product portfolio.