KUALA LUMPUR, 29 SEPTEMBER 2009 – Kuala Lumpur-based Sunway Medical Centre (SunMed) says it has enhanced operational efficiency by installing a solution from power and cooling services firm APC by Schneider Electric.
SunMed IT manager Rachel Lim said the upgrade, using APC’s InfraStruXure system, was part of a data centre overhaul to improve reliability. “The medical centre relies heavily on its ICT equipment to provide access to vital information such as patient records, databases, billings, and test results, on all emergency and regular operations.”
Lim said the solution helped to address technological challenges such as insufficient cooling, space constraints and frequent power trips. “By using the InfraStruXure system, we are able to not only address the power and cooling needs of the hospital but achieve energy efficiency and high systems availability.”
“In addition, working with a ‘pay-as-you-grow’ plan, SunMed eliminated the need for upfront costs on hardware and maintenance,” she said. “This plan leverages the scalability and modularity of APC InfraStruXure solutions and resulted in substantial savings and a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for SunMed.”
Established in November 1999, Sunway Medical Centre (SunMed) offers a full range of medical services, which includes facilities and medical technologies for outpatient and in-patient specialty care, health and wellness promotion, and 24-hour emergency services.
Peace of mind
“The high reliability of InfraStruXure allows us to operate with a peace of mind that we never had before,” said Lim. “With so many mission- and time-critical activities going on around the clock, our back-end system requires constant maintenance and monitoring to ensure there is literally no downtime or interruption, and we are highly satisfied with the preventive-proactive service that APC practices to support the system on a continuous basis.”
She said part of the solution included a power protection system with scalable power and extended runtime to protect the servers from any power disruptions, and the server racks are able to be cooled efficiently and effectively without having to cool the surrounding environment.
“With the growing costs in managing data centres and the increasing demand for energy efficient cooling solutions, we see the need to provide our customers with options that leverage the expertise and best practices APC has developed over the years,” said APC business development manager, Kenneth Emuang.
