OVERVIEW
The 3rd largest VA facility in Arizona is located in a historic building that was a fort in the 1860’s. Transferred to the Public Health Service in 1922, the building remains an Arizona landmark. Because of the age of the facilities, they needed to update a campus-wide fiber optic network to secure communications for IT, Fire and Security. The challenge was doing this in the most cost effective way, and without disturbing the historic nature of the campus buildings.

BUSINESS PROBLEM
Update a campus-wide fiber optic network that will provide secure communications for IT, fire, and security without disturbing the historic nature of the buildings and campus. A huge issue is the current fiber network is run through the buildings and steam tunnels, and is faced with environmental issues that require significant maintenance. Fiber and conduit running through steam tunnels can deteriorate with heat and humidity, and rodents can damage fiber throughout the network. Due to the poor state of the current system, simply touching the current fiber network could result in outages and extensive repair costs.

SOLUTION
Aspen Communications, a Service-Disabled Veteran company that is a fully certified Fiber SenSys integrator, presented the Armored and Alarmed Backbone cable to create a secure, state of the art IT communications infrastructure. Utilizing an armored cable system that is completely impervious to both rodent and environmental damage, the fiber is able to utilize the current distribution paths through all forms of tunnels and environments, without impacting the historic nature of the campus. The initial phase is taking advantage of these existing pathways to provide an upgraded and highly reliable cable plant. Once connected, all IT, Fire & Security communications will be run through this protected fiber optic backbone cable. This will allow for improved IT infrastructure control, and ensure the highest performance and lowest possible TCO. Maintenance and replacement will be eliminated. Phase II, utilizing the Fiber Defender by Fiber SenSys, will alarm the fiber so that any physical intrusion will be detected immediately. All protected data such as patient records, billing information, etc. will be protected. This protection of information is critical based on HIPAA and other Federal Regulations.

In addition to installing the cable, Aspen Communications brought design and engineering services to this project.

VALUE
The system will have unparalleled reliability. The future growth capability of the VA Hospital will extend far beyond the 5 year mark used as the cost/benefit analysis in this engagement. This protected communications infrastructure will give the VA Hospital the ability to secure and protect all signal transmission between buildings, and protect the system wide IT, Fire and Security systems from all intrusions.

To discover more about Aspen call us at 877-772-0992 or
928-774-0992 or info@aspentelco.com.