Here's a question that has troubled physicians for years: how can a specialist, who is thousands of miles away, examine a patient accurately enough to come to a diagnosis?  Patients at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH) are lucky that hospital administrators have come up with an answer: they rely on Cisco to connect with the world's best physicians.

During the last several years this renowned hospital has upgraded its wired and wireless networks with Cisco's solutions. The IT department has depended on Cisco products such as: Cisco Aironet 802.11n access points, Cisco Nexus and Catalyst switches and Cisco wireless controllers to power their network. The hospital's physicians are among the best in the business but if a second opinion is required, help is only a video conference away.

When theconnection is made over Cisco-supported networks, doctors never have to worry about dropped calls. The network has stood up to the rigors of the job, as GOSH achieves nearly 100 percent network availability with only seconds of downtime every year. This is an amazing statistic considering the hospital sees over 200,000 patients every year.

"Many of the children that we're treating are living with rare or complex conditions that are only studied by doctors at a handful of hospitals," said Michael Bone, interim ICT director at GOSH. "The doctors often work together on researching cures. They want ways to share promising new information and treatments that can help their young patients get well."  It's not just patient treatments, the interconnectivity devices also aid in physicians in other areas too. Whether it's the aforementioned research discussions with distant colleagues or patient follow-ups, the infrastructure saves the hospital both time and money.

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