Customer Profile:
A large health care billing organization with a need to launch an Emerging Medical Records (EMR) application.

Business Challenge:
The company wished to connect 30 or more offices and scale the solution so they could offer services to physician groups anywhere in the country. Because of limitations of the software being used, a dedicated “static” IP address was required for the application to print at each site. Unfortunately, this created many obstacles:

1. Each site was different, and many of the sites did not have networks in place.

2. The sites served independent physicians, so a low-cost solution was needed to justify the application. In addition, many of the sites had remote workers who needed access to the application.

3. The sites needed internet access, but the company did not want to “host” those services.

4. The company’s application was hosted at a Data Center with a DMZ owned by another entity. Therefore, a strict security policy had to be adopted.

The Solution:
The company contracted with LME Consulting because of their Wide Area Network (WAN) experience within the field of health care. LME Consulting worked with all levels of the company—Executive, Sales, and IT—to document goals and objectives, evaluate network options/designs, and negotiate pricing and favorable terms with various carriers. Ultimately a Managed VPN through XO Communications was implemented.

Outcome:
The XO-managed VPN provided numerous benefits:

1) Many of the sites already had internet service, so new circuits were not needed.

2) Equipment infrastructure in the field was owned and supported by XO, which allowed the software solution to be bundled with the equipment (which XO maintained).

3) The Managed VPN was secure and encrypted using IP SEC and Triple DES.

4) Compared to other “Layer 2” WAN technologies, the Manager VPN was $330,000 less expensive over a three-year period.