According to UPMC officials, the converged network will replace existing data networks that are based on equipment from Cisco Systems Inc. as well as myriad voice systems running on switches from four vendors.
Work on the convergence project is scheduled to start early next year, and Alcatel said it expects to finish deploying the new network within four years. But neither Alcatel nor the UPMC would say how long the contract will run for, describing it only as a multiyear deal.
The UPMC operates 19 hospitals and about 400 doctors offices and other outpatient sites, and it has 43,000 workers -- making it the largest employer in western Pennsylvania. But Bill Hanna, the health care system's vice president of IT infrastructure, said the UPMC's sprawling organization has left it with a patchwork of more than 150 voice switches and 30 voice-mail systems, plus 25 call centers.
Consolidation key
As part of the convergence project, UPMC officials hope to reduce the current setup to a single voice-mail system and one call center, Hanna said. He added that it isn't clear how many IP-based switches will have to be installed to support the new network. And although he predicted that the convergence work will result in lower networking costs, he couldn't say by how much.
Hanna said the core network will be based on technologies usually reserved for telecommunications companies, including carrier-class routers and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing technology operating over fiber-optic cabling. "It will be very high performance -- not what you'd typically see in an organization's network, especially in health care," he said.
Nancy Landman, the UPMC's vice president of business development and IT operations, said Alcatel beat out rival vendors such as Nortel Networks Corp. and Avaya Inc. partly because the health care system felt that Alcatel would act more as a long-term partner than as a traditional vendor.
For example, the deal calls for the UPMC and Alcatel to each invest $25 million in a joint venture that will develop health care applications and technologies. They said they initially will focus on products that enable health care providers, emergency response workers and other parties to share information during public-safety crises, such as a pandemic or terrorist attack.
Hanna said Alcatel also embraced the idea of supporting a hybrid network of digital, analog and IP-based phones, something Cisco couldn't do.
Brian Riggs, an analyst at Current Analysis Inc. in Sterling, Va., said the UPMC project gives Paris-based Alcatel a big foothold in the U.S., where it has struggled to win customers for many years.
"The UPMC told me they didn't want to deal with multiple vendors," Riggs said. "But to have an organization that's ripping out Cisco and replacing it with Alcatel is a big deal. It's a lot of trust in Alcatel."
The UPMC has already installed several thousand wireless access points, and that amount is expected to grow to about 30,000 as part of the convergence project.