With an equity of 53.1 percent in the Kepler university hospital, the Oberoesterreichische Gesundheitsholding GmbH (OÖG) – Upper Austrian Health Holding – is Upper Austria’s biggest hospital operator. Apart from the Kepler university hospital in Linz, the OÖG also runs five regional hospitals in eight locations.
Due to the increase in demands on the network sector and in order to optimize the hardware resources in use, as well as for the support of our existing team, we began in 2014 to look for a network management solution. The challenge was to find one that could consolidate the tasks on one single platform. The solution would have to meet the following requirements:
- Configure software from several network devices simultaneously
- Standardize configurations
- Optimize the use of hardware (more efficient use of available resources)
- Establish an asset management for the network
- Enable access for local IT teams
- Replace/Align existing network documentation and maps
After extensive tests and comparisons, we decided on ERAMON, its benefits were very convincing:
- With the use of the “Provisioning” module we gained considerable time savings when we had to make changes to network components. For example, we were able to change 2000 ports in a Network Access Control (NAC) project in half the usual estimated time.
The option to split pre-defined port provisioning profiles over several teams was definitely a great help. - The NRO report (resource optimization) in ERAMON is another good example of the many functions that support us to keep track of the costs. It allows us to analyze the port load and, if and when necessary identify free or unused ports before new devices are ordered, thus avoiding costly new orders.
- On the basis of rulesets we can use automated processes to manage the network. For example, if CDP neighborhoods are detected, ERAMON can assign the devices to groups and run the rollout of the relevant performance measurements automatically.
- The “Performance Management” module collects and analyzes performance data fast and efficiently. Among other things, this includes the monitoring of switch uplink loads. When pre-defined thresholds are violated, the nominated person(s) are notified, for example by email. Problems in connection with servers can thus be proactively identified and communicated.
- With the “Asset Management” module we have the up-to-date status of all active and passive devices at our fingertips at all times. Indirectly the module also supports us with problem remediation. One example would be a bug which causes network components to send alerts or throw errors. With the help of the asset management we were able to identify the affected network components via a specific revision ID and replace them in advance. These components were then no longer able to throw hardware errors which were resulting in alerts during the scheduled OS update. We were able to identify the hardware components affected by the bug with just a few clicks. This allowed us to preemptively and proactively exchange the components in question. Furthermore, the Asset Management offers a detailed overview of hard- and software in use for all devices managed by ERAMON, which is of particular importance in view of the compliance requirements applying to the healthcare sector.
The support from the supplier plays a decisive role for us. The fast and straightforward communication with ERAMON Support goes far beyond mere assistance, we work together as if in one big team.
