Isle of Man's new flagship hospital implements Cisco IP telephony solution.

M2 PRESSWIRE-31 July 2003-TOTAL NETWORK SOLUTIONS: Isle of Man's new flagship hospital implements Cisco IP telephony solution(C)1994-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RDATE:07312003

The Isle of Man Government has announced that it is standardising on equipment from Cisco Systems after completing a full strategic review of its voice and data infrastructures. The first major installation, covering both voice and data services, is at Noble`s Hospital, the Isle of Man`s new flagship medical facility, where a Cisco IP telephony solution is being implemented by Total Network Solutions. This will be Cisco`s first major offshore deployment of IP telephony.

The decision to standardise on Cisco was taken after completing extensive field trials of solutions from a number of key vendors. Cisco was the only manufacturer able to meet the Government`s criteria for converged voice and data architectures required as part of a strategic roadmap to meet e-government initiatives and deliver higher levels of public service.

The Isle of Man implemented an IP telephony solution to ensure that its investment in communications technology was future-proofed. Traditional legacy PBX technology did not allow the future integration of emerging technologies such as wireless and converged voice and data communications.

Total Network Solutions is providing an end-to-end solution including project management, installation and commissioning, user training and maintenance. It has installed around 1000 IP handsets throughout the hospital along with a resilient Cisco Call Manager IP PBX cluster. The core high speed LAN is based on Cisco`s Catalyst 6500 series switches.

Cisco`s Eco partners have provided key parts of the new infrastructure including Centralised Operator Consoles from ARC Solutions and DPNSS to IP media converters from Checkmate to give access to the entire government telephone network comprising 16 linked Mitel SX2000 PBXs. For specific user applications, Total Network Solutions also installed a voice recording system from Witness Systems and voice activated dialling from Omega IP.

According to Nigel Thomas, technical manager of the Isle of Man`s Information Systems Division: "Total Network Solutions was selected because it proposed an innovative, cost effective and technically advanced solution as well as being able to provide the highest levels of in-house support both during and after implementation."

About Noble`s Hospital

Costing over GBP100 million, Noble`s Hospital is the Island's largest ever building project and will be the cornerstone of acute health care provision with facilities and care comparable to the best in Europe. The 252-bed hospital will provide an environment that puts patient care first and enables services to be delivered more efficiently as well as encouraging professional and technical excellence. This includes investing in "state-of-the-art" technology throughout the hospital.

About Total Network Solutions

Formed in 1991, Total Network Solutions is a leading provider of communications solutions and services and has recently been acknowledged by Dun & Bradstreet as being the 59th fastest growing company in the UK. The company is a Cisco Gold Partner and has also been awarded "Cisco Reseller of the Year". Its `best of breed` communications solutions are backed up by a wide range of professional support services. These have been provided to organisations operating in many different markets in the UK and offshore and include British Airways, Abbey National Offshore and the London Internet Exchange along with many parts of the public sector.

CONTACT: PJMC LimitedTel: +44 (0)1926 312886Fax: +44 (0)1926 435355e-mail: info@pjmc.com

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