St. Mary's / Duluth Clinic Health System Selects MobileAccess for Wi-Fi Network

St. Mary's / Duluth Clinic Health System Selects MobileAccess for
Wi-Fi Network
In-Building Wireless Solution Enhances Patient Care and Streamlines Medical
Inventory Management 


VIENNA, Va., Feb. 14  /PRNewswire/ -- MobileAccess Networks, a leading provider
of in-building wireless network solutions, announced today that the SMDC Health
System deployed the MobileAccess MA-850 Intelligent Switching Hub to enable
Wi-Fi applications within nine buildings.  The system supports a wireless
medical materials management solution that provides accurate inventory
management for hospital personnel and streamlined billing processes for SMDC's
medical suppliers.

SMDC is implementing the MA-850 Wi-Fi solution to enable new wireless
applications that further enhances the hospital's already excellent levels of
patient care.  Initially, the system supports a wireless barcode application,
letting SMDC track its inventory of medical materials more accurately and
efficiently.  In the future, SMDC plans to implement a wireless Voice over IP
(VoIP) application to foster real-time communication among highly mobile
hospital personnel.

"We teamed with Norstan, our systems integrator, and evaluated several in-
building wireless solutions for our Wi-Fi system. Upon Norstan's
recommendation, we selected the MobileAccess solution because it delivers the
network reliability that our personnel demand and our patients at SMDC
deserve," said Rick Schroeder, Network Analyst at SMDC.  "In addition, the MA-
850 solution gives us the ability to locate our Wi-Fi access points in the
wiring closets instead of on the ceilings, which makes the APs more secure and
much easier to maintain. The MA-850 also supports a scaling feature that lets
us broaden the coverage potential of each wireless access point, so we can
design with fewer of them -- which is a huge operational savings for the
hospital."

Increasingly, healthcare organizations are leveraging mobile devices and
wireless medical applications to increase the quality of patient care.
MobileAccess offers a flexible in-building wireless solution that is ideal for
healthcare environments, supporting a broad range of wireless services over a
common infrastructure.  In addition to Wi-Fi capabilities, the MobileAccess
system supports cellular, PCS and VHF/UHF technologies enabling wireless
applications that include mobile voice, paging, asset tracking and medical
telemetry.  The MobileAccess system adapts to service changes or additions
without disruption and readily accommodates emerging wireless technologies such
as ED-VO, UMTS and 3G.

"In-building wireless voice and data coverage is critical across all business
segments, particularly healthcare. Healthcare organizations want instant
communications among their medical personnel, real-time access to patient
information and reliable support for life-critical wireless applications such
as medical telemetry," said Cathy Zatloukal, President and CEO of MobileAccess.
 "We look forward to continuing our relationship with Norstan and delivering
innovative in-building wireless voice and services to the healthcare
community."

About MobileAccess MA-850 Intelligent RF Switching Hub

With the MobileAccess MA-850 Intelligent Switching Hub, organizations can
deploy Wi-Fi architectures that are more flexible and easier to maintain than
the conventional "AP everywhere" Wi-Fi model.  In an MA-850 implementation,
passive broadband antennas provide the Wi-Fi signal coverage enabling the
802.11 Access Points (APs) to be clustered together in secure wiring closets
where they can be readily accessed and cost-effectively maintained.

The MA-850 supports advanced RF features that enable more flexible and
future-proof Wi-Fi implementations.  With an embedded RF switching matrix, the
MA-850 enables a "Pay-As-You-Grow" capability that can minimize the number of
required APs, significantly reducing cost.  With the MA-850's integral multi-
service support, IT managers can use their Wi-Fi infrastructure to
simultaneously support any future mix of wireless services.  The MA-850 is
complementary with all third-party Wi-Fi solutions supporting the IEEE
802.11a/b/g standards, enabling it to readily integrate into any Wi-Fi
environment

About the SMDC Health System

SMDC Health System is a non-profit health care organization serving 450,000
residents of Northeastern Minnesota, Northwestern Wisconsin, and the Upper
Peninsula of Michigan. SMDC is the largest health care provider in the region
with four hospitals and 18 community clinics. The system employs more than
6,000 health care professionals including nearly 400 physicians. SMDC strives
to embody the soul and science of healing by combining compassionate care with
leading edge research, treatments and technologies.

About Norstan, Inc.

Norstan, Inc. (NASDAQ:NRRD) is a full-service communications solutions company
that delivers voice and data technologies and services, and remanufactured
equipment to corporate end-users and public sector companies. Norstan offers a
full range of integrated technologies for converged solutions, customer contact
solutions and ProtecNet(R) Life Cycle services. The company has offices located
throughout the U.S. and Canada. To learn more, visit the Norstan website at
http://www.norstan.com/.

About MobileAccess Networks

MobileAccess Networks (http://www.mobileaccess.com/) is a leading developer of
in-building wireless solutions for corporate enterprises and wireless service
providers. MobileAccess products provide business-quality performance and
reliability for current and future wireless services, including cellular voice,
Wi-Fi, and public safety, throughout large buildings and campus environments.
With hundreds of networks installed worldwide, MobileAccess Networks UnWires
the Workplace with cost-effective, scalable solutions that deliver superior
wireless coverage for all data and voice applications. Founded in 1998,
MobileAccess Networks provides in-building wireless solutions to AT&T Wireless,
Verizon, Sprint PCS, Nextel, Cingular, T-Mobile, Partner, Deutsche Telecom,
France Telecom, Orange, Cellcom and DutchTone. High profile customers include
U.S. House of Representatives, Ft. Lauderdale Airport, American Family
Insurance, American University, Red Cross and many others. 

DATASOURCE: MobileAccess Networks



CONTACT:  John Conrad of Merritt Group Public Relations, [phone],

or , for MobileAccess Networks



Web site:  http://www.mobileaccess.com/

http://www.norstan.com/ 

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