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Ascom Wireless Solutions Inc. has been chosen by a major Virginia healthcare system to provide on-site wireless voice and messaging applications. The Ascom FreeNET VoWiFi solution and UNITE Messaging suite are installed at one of the system’s hospitals and are slated to be deployed at all the others in the next few months.

Ascom’s FreeNET solution is standards based and is made up of VoWiFi portable handsets, a VoIP gateway for integration with an existing PBX and a robust messaging engine. It supports a number of IEEE standards like 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11e and 802.11i. Hospitalwide voice and messaging communications are enabled on the hospital’s existing WLAN through the FreeNET platform.

The UNITE Messaging Suite offers embedded computing appliances running Ascom software application using a Linux kernel for reliability. The suite enables integration with a range of clinical and non-clinical systems.

The solution offers the hospital a platform for future growth. The next phase of the project will consist of working with Ascom to integrate the FreeNET platform with the system’s Laboratory Information System (LIS) as well as other systems throughout the hospital through the UNITE Messaging Suite.

“Our FreeNET VoWiFi system has generated extraordinary interest and orders for new systems are already ahead of plan,” said Chad West, president of Ascom Wireless Solutions Inc. “This hospital chain conducted trials with all major vendors before they decided to move forward with Ascom. The nurses praised the handsets' functionality and ease of use while the IT staff endorsed the solution because of the 802.11b/g radio and the fact that it’s the only system that is completely standards-based.”

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Laura Stotler writes about IP Communications and related topics for TMCnet. She has covered VoIP and related technologies for seven years, contributing to Internet Telephony magazine and TMCnet, and as a freelance writer. To see more articles, please visit: Laura Stotler’s columnist page.