Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) says the $277 million transformation project agreement between Alcatel-Lucent and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is progressing on schedule.

 

The agreement, originally announced back in November 2006, gave Alcatel-Lucent task of upgrading the health care provider’s communication infrastructure, which includes, UPMC’s wired and wireless data infrastructures, as well is its enterprise telephony system and more than 25 contact center platforms, to a new, converged IP infrastructure.

 

According to Alcatel-Lucent, the UPMC’s data center expansion projects are well underway, with the two data centers having been enlarged by more than 3,000 square feet, and starting in the beginning of December, the optical and IP/MPLS metro backbone network will be carrying live applications. Company officials also say the North American headquarters project for U.S. Steel Tower has been launched

 

“A complete transformation of voice, data, and video networking on wired, wireless, and optical infrastructures is a significant undertaking,” Mark Gilbert, industry analyst at Gartner (News - Alert). “A transformation of this type can demonstrate the real impact communications can have in the advancement of health care delivery.”

 

“With UPMC, Alcatel-Lucent is designing, installing, and implementing a communications model that merges state-of-the-art technology with a clear focus on user needs,” said Hubert de Pesquidoux, president of enterprise activities at Alcatel-Lucent. “Beyond physical infrastructure, our companies are building a relationship to develop new technologies and applications that will improve not only the healthcare industry, but patient care as well.”

 

Pesquidoux also indicated that, in September, work began on the installation of voice, video, and data infrastructure in the U.S. Steel building in Pittsburgh, PA, which will house the executive headquarters of UPMC.

 

At present, Alcatel-Lucent is working with clinical and data center administrative system managers to design a multiple campus WLANs for mobile users, and with a variety of third-party manufacturers to provide patient monitoring, nursing management systems, and other applications.

 

Pesquidoux stated that his company, in conjunction with its new reseller, Johnson Controls, has been awarded an additional $11.8 million contract for a voice and data wireless infrastructure project at the UPMC’s new Lawrenceville campus, which is home to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

 

“UPMC and Alcatel-Lucent have begun combining world class healthcare and technology expertise to deliver the innovative technologies necessary to create unbound healthcare,” said Dan Drawbaugh, CIO at UPMC.