WLAN chipset used in hospital telephone system

SpectraLink is using Intersil's Prism wireless LAN technology as part of a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) wireless telephone system in Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital.

SpectraLink is using Intersil's Prism wireless LAN technology as part of a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) wireless telephone system in Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, one of the UK's best known hospitals.

Recently installed at Guy's and St Thomas' Intensive Care Unit (ICU), the SpectraLink's NetLink Wireless Telephone System (NetLink WTS) allows nurses to communicate with doctors, hospital staff and patients' relatives instantly using mobile handsets wherever they are and without leaving the patient's bedside.

An IP-based telephony product, NetLink WTS allows hospital staff to make and receive telephone calls over a shared wireless infrastructure.

The wireless system also links into the main hospital telephone system giving users full access to both internal and external calls while mobile.

The hospital already has a conventional fixed telephone and paging system.

However, research showed that over 80% of all telephone calls were being paged to mobile nursing staff who then had to find a telephone to respond.

In 20% of cases, the nurses could not leave their patients to take the paged calls.

"This is a great example of how Prism technology can be easily adapted for innovative wireless applications", said Larry Ciaccia, vice president and general manager of Intersil's Wireless Networking Business.

"Wireless VoIP systems have many advantages over conventional telephones, paging or cellular phones and Spectralink has created a great product using wireless voice technology as the cornerstone of a integrated, mobile voice and data network".

To improve efficiency, the hospital installed an integrated wireless VoIP communication system using SpectraLink's NetLink WTS with wireless telephones, linked to an Alvarion 802.11 wireless LAN system with access points throughout the ICU.

This gave the staff instant internal and external communications wherever they are within the ICU.

Both the SpectraLink and Alvarion products incorporate Intersil's Prism wireless chipsets to provide high-speed voice and datacommunication over the wireless network to IEEE 802.11 standards.

"Wireless VoIP technology is rapidly revolutionising mobile communications in applications such as hospitals, corporate offices, factories and schools where mobile staff need immediate voice communications", said Mike Cronin, president of SpectraLink International.

" Intersil's Prism chipset and reference designs allowed us to develop our wireless products quickly and effectively in the shortest possible time helping us to achieve a leading position in this fast growing market".

SpectraLink's NetLink WTS converts voice signals to VoIP and transmits it as data over the Alvarion wireless LAN network via the wireless access points.

The data is converted back to voice signals at the mobile handsets that effectively operate as cordless telephones.

Voice calls are prioritised so that they have priority over data traffic to ensure excellent speech quality.

Computer data can also be transmitted wirelessly via the same access points to PCs and other mobile computing devices equipped with IEEE 802.11 network cards.

"By giving nurses wireless telephones, we can eliminate the delays which are inherent in paging systems with their call waiting delays.

The system can save both time and money for the caller because unlike mobile phones, there are no call costs NetLink wireless telephones use the free unlicensed 2.4GHs frequency band", added Cronin The NetLink WTS operates at low power levels to avoid interference with other ICU equipment.

It was supplied and installed by Wireless-CNP, a SpectraLink reseller and leading UK distributor of wireless voice and data systems.

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