August 4, 2005 Wallingford, CT and Rochester, NY -- ChimeNet, an affiliate company of the Connecticut Hospital Association, and FiberTech Networks, a builder and operator of metropolitan-area fiber-optic networks within mid-size U.S. cities, have teamed to connect multiple locations with a managed fiber-optic based platform for Bristol Hospital in Connecticut.
According to David Rackliffe, assistant vice president for corporate programs of Bristol Hospital, the 134-bed community hospital was looking for connectivity to accommodate increasing data traffic resulting from a growing need to transmit electronic transaction volumes, such as radiologic images from its Picture Archive and Communication System (PACS).
"This fiber solution from ChimeNet and Fibertech provides us a dedicated infrastructure with the highest levels of security and reliability for our data transactions," adds Rackliffe. "It also offers us a foundation for our data backup and medical imaging systems."
According to a press release, in delivering the service, ChimeNet will lease dark fiber, or fiber-optics unlit by communications electronics, from portions of Fibertech's existing network in Bristol. Where necessary, Fibertech will build out fiber-optic extensions directly into Bristol Hospital buildings to create a seamless, scaleable infrastructure. ChimeNet will then "light" the network with its own equipment to deploy a high-speed optical network that will not only meet Bristol's current infrastructure and data transport needs, but will also allow for bandwidth growth and future application development.
"Patient confidentiality, large data record transfers, and regulatory forces have reshaped the role of information technology within the health care industry," comments Michael Hurley, vice president of sales and marketing for Fibertech. "To better move and manage its data requirements, a fiber-optic network will provide Bristol Hospital with the most cost-effective, scaleable infrastructure to meet its growing needs."
Fibertech says that, by mid-2005, it will have installed more than 1,200 miles of fiber in the Connecticut cities of Hartford, Bridgeport, Stamford, and New Haven. The company says that, in addition to dark fiber, it offers a variety of optical services over its all-fiber networks. The company also has local metro networks operating in: Providence, RI; Columbus, OH; Pittsburgh, PA; Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Binghamton, White Plains, and Albany, NY; Wilmington, DE; Indianapolis, IN; and Worcester and Springfield, MA.
