United Memorial Medical Center
Batavia, NY
A Success Story: United Memorial Medical Center turned to JSite, Perot Systems fully managed disaster recovery solution, to protect their mission-critical MEDITECH applications and ensure reliable system availability.
The Challenge: United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia, NY was well aware of the need for a robust disaster recovery solution to protect their MEDITECH advanced clinical system data and other critical applications for their acute care facilities. They also knew that they would be implementing additional applications in the near future and systems safety was an integral part of their long-term business continuity goals. They had considered hosting their own disaster recovery solution, but decided against moving in that direction due to cost and space constraints.
Towards the end of 2007, United Memorial Medical Center engaged another external IT services firm to host and implement a managed disaster recovery solution. United Memorial’s Chief Information Officer joined the Medical Center about 6 months after the contract was signed, and testing was already underway. The Medical Center had been operating MEDITECH Client/ Server 5.5 for approximately five years and the new CIO understood that they had a relatively standard MEDITECH infrastructure. Their goals in implementing a disaster recovery solution were to:
- Reduce data recovery and restoration time to 48 hours after an event
- Maximize system availability
- Meet long-term business continuity objectives
- Ensure infrastructure and systems safety in preparation for implementing new mission-critical applications
Despite their best efforts with the original external IT services provider, after 18 months, several failed tests, and much frustration, United Memorial Medical Center still did not have a viable backup and recovery system. Because the disaster recovery solution was such an important element of their overall IT strategy and healthcare safety goals, United Memorial believed they had little choice but to consider other alternatives. They were specifically looking for an IT solutions provider familiar with MEDITECH who had successfully implemented MEDITECH restoration services in the past.
The Solution: In early 2009, United Memorial visited the Perot Systems state-of-the-art data center located in close proximity to both MEDITECH corporate headquarters and the MEDITECH Solutions Group within Perot Systems. The Tier 4, hardened data center facility hosts the JSite solution, a fully-managed disaster recovery service designed specifically for MEDITECH hospitals.
The JSite facility houses Perot Systems servers, SAN storage, backup software solutions, and advanced tape technology. The fault-tolerant facility incorporates N+1 and N+2 redundant power, telecommunications, cooling, early detection fire monitoring, and fire suppression systems. Redundant diesel emergency generators are supplied with fuel from multiple tanks and auxiliary water tanks to provide backup hydration for the cooling system. The facility is supported by a 24 x 7 on-site staff.
United Memorial management was impressed with the data center’s redundancy, communications systems, and power backup equipment. There was an added comfort level knowing that Perot Systems had been involved in United Memorial Medical Center’s initial implementation of MEDITECH Client/Server, which further demonstrated expertise with MEDITECH technology. With this established confidence in place, United Memorial engaged Perot Systems to deliver the JSite service.
“Our CEO pulled me aside after the successful test and noted that he sleeps a little better each night knowing that the Medical Center has a working disaster recovery solution.” Dan O’Connor, Chief Information Officer, United Memorial Medical Center
“There was good communication with the Perot Systems team during set-up and testing of the tape restoration. We knew exactly what was going on during the restoration and everything went as planned.” Jennifer Gasbarre, Security Officer, United Memorial Medical Center
The Results: Within six weeks of signing the contract, Perot Systems and the Medical Center completed their first successful test. The process went as planned and the tape restoration was completed in just over an hour, far surpassing the Medical Center’s initial goal of 48 hours.
As a result of the JSite implementation, United Memorial Medical Center has:
- Confidence in a robust disaster recovery solution
- Improved their infrastructure to support their long-term business continuity objectives for data backup and systems availability
- Achieved their goal of full restoration within 48 hours (and actually far surpassed this goal in testing)
With the JSite disaster recovery solution in place, United Memorial Medical Center is confident that their systems are fully protected and will be back online quickly when recovery is required. With their business continuity objectives met, they can now focus on implementing additional critical applications for the medical center.
About: United Memorial Medical Center: United Memorial Medical Center is an acute care hospital located on two campuses in Batavia, NY. The Medical Center was formed by the merger of the Genesee Memorial and St. Jerome Hospitals in January 2000 and is the only acute care hospital in Genesee County. With 131 licensed beds, they provide the necessary healthcare services to a regional population of over 93,000 residents and operate the only in-patient alcohol and substance abuse program in a four county area.
JSite is a Proven Solution You Can Trust: JSite is a fully managed disaster recovery service offered by a trusted MEDITECH solutions provider with extensive experience and specialization in MEDITECH restoration. JSite provides data restoration services for both MEDITECH and enterprise applications, and is available with two data recovery options:
- Restore from tape
- Restore from virtual tape library (VTL)
JSite VTL uses replication over secure MPLS and advanced data de-duplication capabilities to speed and streamline backups to disk, while reducing network bandwidth requirements.