1. Qwest® Metro Optical Ethernet
for Healthcare Providers
Delivering Secure, Scalable Connectivity Across Metro Areas
As more and more healthcare providers adopt advanced life-saving digital technolo-
gies and administrators seek to ensure compliance with an array of regulations, one
thing is clear – demand for secure, reliable, high bandwidth connectivity continues to
rise. Qwest Metro Optical Ethernet, or QMOE™, is a flexible, highly scalable solution
that delivers switched, Ethernet connectivity to enable healthcare organizations to
extend their local area networks, with control over routing and traffic prioritization,
to meet this demand cost effectively.
QMOE is backed by Qwest’s Spirit of Service®, which provides technical expertise,
responsive account management, and world-class services that exceed customers’
expectations for quality, value, and reliability.
I N C O L L A B O R AT I O N W I T H

2. Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Delivering Improved Quality of Care 2
What is Qwest® Metro Optical Ethernet? 3-4
Supporting Advanced Technologies 5-6
Enabling Robust First Responder Capabilities 7
Ensuring Regulatory Compliance 8
Reducing Operating Costs 9
Alcatel-Lucent Ethernet Service Switch 10
Copyright © 2008 Qwest All Rights Reserved. Not to be distributed or reproduced by anyone other than Qwest entities.

3. Introduction
BCDR, EMR, CPOE, PACS, ERP, RFID, and HIPAA1 are part of an alphabet soup of
acronyms for technologies and regulations that are changing the way healthcare is
delivered, and helping save lives. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act (HIPAA) has been in place for several years, yet many healthcare providers re-
main uncertain about what is necessary to ensure full compliance.2 This uncertainty
affects systems and practices, but also affects data security and the sheer amount of
data that flows between locations in a healthcare organization.
For emerging digital applications such as Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Picture
Archival and Communication Systems (PACS), and Computerized Physician Order
Entry (CPOE), the implications on bandwidth demands are clearer. Consider a
physician requesting a 50MB digital MRI image from a remote server. Then multiply
that by the thousands of radiology examinations conducted by the healthcare orga-
nization and the number of physicians who could potentially access them. Further,
as more physicians appreciate how these technologies can help improve the quality
of care that they deliver to patients, adoption is escalating.
Qwest® Metro Optical Ethernet or QMOETM offers a highly scalable, secure, and
cost effective solution to meet the connectivity demands of the evolving healthcare
organizations, between multiple locations, across metro areas. QMOE has also been
shown to deliver greater service flexibility – an organization can obtain precisely
the amount of bandwidth required – over a network that allows customers to
upgrade and increase capacity quickly.
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(BCDR) Business Continuity Disaster Recovery; (EMR) Electronic Medical Records; (CPOE) Computerized Physician Order Entry;
(PACS) Picture Archival and Communications Systems; (ERP) Enterprise Resource Planning; (RFID) Radio Frequency Identification;
(HIPAA) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
2
“Keeping Patients’ Details Private, Even From Kin,” New York Times, July 3, 2007, courtesy of Wikipedia
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Copyright © 2008 Qwest All Rights Reserved. Not to be distributed or reproduced by anyone other than Qwest entities.

4. Delivering Improved Quality of Care
The healthcare industry faces an unprecedented array of challenges – demographic
changes, regulatory requirements, and new technologies that promise to improve
the quality of care. In an environment that demands lower healthcare costs, health-
care IT managers focus on four operational imperatives:
Supporting Advanced Technologies
Healthcare organizations are adopting new, highly sophisticated
technologies that improve quality of care and expand service offerings by
improving information flow from supplier to hospital, bedside to lab, doctor
to patient.
Enabling Robust First Responder Capabilities
Healthcare organizations realize that their role as critical first
responders to emergencies and natural disasters requires robust,
dependable communications networks, with advanced business
continuity/disaster recovery capabilities.
Ensuring Regulatory Compliance
Healthcare administrators insist on full compliance with regulatory
requirements for data creation, data integrity, data storage and
retrieval, along with those related to overall security and the privacy
of patient information.
Reducing Operating Costs
With ever increasing pressure on healthcare costs, IT managers know that
they must achieve the first three imperatives while reducing costs and im-
proving resource utilization and productivity.
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Copyright © 2008 Qwest All Rights Reserved. Not to be distributed or reproduced by anyone other than Qwest entities.

5. Qwest® Metro Optical Ethernet
Qwest’s Metro Optical Ethernet service, also called QMOETM combines the sim-
plicity and low cost of Ethernet with the speed and reliability of optical fiber to
deliver flexible, highly scalable connectivity between hospitals, clinics, laboratories,
and business offices across a metropolitan area. QMOE is available in point-to-point
and multipoint service configurations, with bandwidth available in manageable incre-
ments from 10 Mbps to 1 Gbps. Traffic flows securely as Ethernet virtual circuits
(EVCs) across a shared network infrastructure.
QMOE seamlessly extends access to medical and business applications and data
across a metro area. QMOE can enable a patient’s file to be transported to mul-
tiple locations to be updated by a physician, nurse, pharmacy, or laboratory, with
each being served by a separate EVC to help ensure confidentiality and security. In
addition to IP-centric applications, QMOE is ideal for integrating voice, video, and
Internet traffic to eliminate network overlays.
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Copyright © 2008 Qwest All Rights Reserved. Not to be distributed or reproduced by anyone other than Qwest entities.

6. Metro Optical Ethernet
Qwest®Metro Optical Ethernet
Qwest offers a Quality of Service (QoS) feature with QMOETM that enables
healthcare organizations to prioritize network traffic by type to help ensure avail-
ability and efficiently manage network resources. Priority 1, for example, might be
reserved for mission-critical data and applications that require low latency connec-
tions, such as emergency paging systems. Priority 2 might be used for PACS images;
Priority 3 for regular business data; and Priority 4 for communications that only
require best effort service. Many healthcare organizations prefer QMOE because it
enables them to control routing and traffic priority.
Qwest can assist healthcare organizations with the design and deployment of
customized solutions through the Qwest® AdaptiveBuild® process, supported by
Qwest technical experts in the Qwest National System Design Center. QMOE so-
lutions are highly reliable and backed by a written Service Level Agreement (SLA)
that defines performance guarantees. The Qwest Network Operations Center
(NOC) continually monitors the health of the network to support SLAs.
• Securely connects multiple facilities across a metropolitan area
• Point-to-point and multipoint service available
QMOE Benefits
QMOE Benefits
• Supports adoption of advanced medical technologies
• Offers unparalleled scalability to precisely match bandwidth to requirements
• Delivers high availability – up to 99.9% with the Quality of Service feature
• Enables control over routing and traffic priority
• Is more cost-effective solution overall than other service options
• Is backed by the Qwest Spirit of Service®
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Copyright © 2008 Qwest All Rights Reserved. Not to be distributed or reproduced by anyone other than Qwest entities.

7. Network Requirements Qwest Solution
Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery (BCDR) & Storage
Driven by HIPAA and other regulations, off-site data storage and retrieval is vital to healthcare
organizations.
• Private, secure networking
QMOETM can include high capacity, redundant
• Flexible capacity to accommodate large
trunk connections enabling switching in the event
planned and unplanned data transmissions of a detected failure.
• High availability and survivability
Supporting Advanced Technologies
Electronic Medical Records (EMR) & Computerized Physician Order
Entry(CPOE)
Healthcare organizations are adopting new applications that eliminate paper files and handwritten
orders, while speeding universal access to complete patient information.
• Private, secure networking QMOE runs on a private network managed by
• Network extensibility, enabling remote and Qwest. It supports most higher-layer applications
mobile access and is often used as the preferred transport to
• Network storage and retrieval connect data centers because of its large file
• Quality of Service with high availability transfer capability.
Picture Archival and Communications Systems (PACS)
PACS solutions enable the archival and transmission of large, digital x-ray, MRI, CT and Ultrasound
images.
• Capacity to transport large data files QMOE typically supports PACS through point-
• Network extensibility, enabling remote to-point EVCs capable of handling large frame
access sizes (mammography images, 32 MB; CT, 20 MB;
• High performance connectivity digital x-rays, 8 MB; MRI, 8 MB; Ultrasound, 5 – 8
• Quality of Service with high availability MB; all types are experiencing regular and large
increases in size).
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Used to improve supply chain and inventory management.
•
• High network availability The QoS feature available with QMOE enables
• Network flexibility to accommodate bursts prioritization of traffic to update inventory sys-
of traffic tems in a cost-effective manner.
• Quality of Service
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Copyright © 2008 Qwest All Rights Reserved. Not to be distributed or reproduced by anyone other than Qwest entities.

8. Network Requirements Qwest Solution
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
The FDA has completed pilots of RFID marking and bar coding of medical devices and medications
to reduce errors, with adoption over the next 2 – 3 years. Physicians are also using wireless
connectivity with EMR at the point of care.
Supporting Advanced Technologies
• Scalable network connectivity to handle QMOETM is highly scalable in increments to
exponential number of devices and data tags adjust to increasing bandwidth needs driven by
• High resiliency RFID technology. In addition, the service can
• Private, secure network aggregate traffic from many sites to a hub for
• High network availability handoff to a data center for further processing.
Internet Connectivity
Support for research, collaboration, email and Web access.
• High performance connectivity While customers often use QMOE to connect to
• Scalable network capacity to adapt to growing the Internet, Qwest offers a broad array of ser-
demand vices, including Qwest IQ Networking® for public
• High availability and survivability and private Internet connectivity.
Medical and Professional Training
Use of video and other media for training and professional development.
• High capacity network QMOE supports distance learning, video, data,
• Quality of Service and voice in an environment with low latency and
jitter, necessary for sensitive applications.
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Copyright © 2008 Qwest All Rights Reserved. Not to be distributed or reproduced by anyone other than Qwest entities.

9. Enabling Robust First Responder Capabilities
Healthcare organizations realize that their role as critical first responders to emer-
gencies and natural disasters requires robust, dependable communications net-
works, with advanced business continuity/disaster recovery capabilities. In times of
crisis, Qwest solutions keep networks up, accessible, and operating at peak perfor-
mance.
High Availability
The QMOETM infrastructure utilizes carrier-grade network elements, with
stringent reliability requirements, and resilient failure recovery mechanisms to
optimize the service for minimal failover administration.
Rapid Response Times
Qwest assists healthcare organizations with the design and deployment
of customized business continuity/disaster recovery solutions through the
Qwest AdaptiveBuild process, backed by responsive account management
and service delivery personnel committed to the Qwest Spirit of Service. In
the event of a disaster, Qwest can help healthcare organizations implement a
BCDR solution to ensure the survivability of mission-critical applications.
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Copyright © 2008 Qwest All Rights Reserved. Not to be distributed or reproduced by anyone other than Qwest entities.

10. Ensuring Regulatory Compliance
Ensuring regulatory compliance depends on secure, resilient transport of volumes
of patient data, often stored on multiple network servers or backed up in remote
data centers. QMOETM is provided across a carrier-class optical network with se-
cure facilities governed by strict network policies designed to address the needs of
the healthcare industry.
Security
Data travels over the QMOE infrastructure as native Ethernet, so many of
the security methods used in the LAN can be extended across the metro
area. Connections are made through Ethernet virtual circuits (EVCs) that
partition traffic securely while maintaining connectivity across all devices.
When complemented by stateful firewalls, intrusion detection systems, anti-
virus solutions, and the like, security can be efficiently maintained across the
network.
Flexibility/Scalability
QMOE can support point-to-point and multipoint connections with band-
width profiles up to 1 Gbps. Unparalleled scalability, with bandwidth profiles
available in 10 Mbps increments from 10 to 100 Mbps, and in 100 Mbps in-
crements from 100 to 1 Gbps, (also at 150 Mbps complementing traditional
private line speeds) allow healthcare organizations to cost-effectively match
QMOE to their requirements.
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Copyright © 2008 Qwest All Rights Reserved. Not to be distributed or reproduced by anyone other than Qwest entities.

11. Reducing Operating Costs
Healthcare providers must balance the need to implement advanced technolo-
gies to improve efficiency and the quality of care with a mandate to reduce overall
healthcare costs. QMOETM supports the continued adoption of new healthcare
solutions, while helping to ensure regulatory compliance, with unsurpassed flexibil-
ity and reliability.
Extended Reach
QMOE can securely connect multiple healthcare facilities across a metropoli-
tan area thus enabling healthcare professionals to: collaborate more easily; to
centralize orders for medical equipment, supplies, and medicines. Plus, with a
QMOE solution, efficient BCDR and remote storage plans can be implement-
ed; all with the security, availability, and reliability that helps ensure regulatory
compliance.
Lower IT Management Costs
In addition to eliminating LAN/WAN protocol conversions and the need to
support multiple legacy WAN services, QMOE enables healthcare organiza-
tions to merge IP data and applications, voice, video, and Internet traffic on a
single network service. QMOE additionally enables the consolidating of serv-
ers and remote facilities, further reducing overhead and ongoing management
costs.
More Cost-Effective Overall
QMOE bandwidth costs are typically lower than traditional private line servic-
es and those based on synchronous optical networks. Unparalleled flexibility
and scalability allows healthcare organizations to better tailor bandwidth to
their specific requirements.
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Copyright © 2008 Qwest All Rights Reserved. Not to be distributed or reproduced by anyone other than Qwest entities.

12. Enabled by Alcatel-Lucent 7450
Ethernet Service Switch
With industry leading density and performance, the Alcatel-Lucent 7450
Ethernet Service Switch router supports scalable, reliable and predictable SLA-based
Carrier Ethernet services. The Alcatel-Lucent 7450 ESS router, part of the Service Rout-
ing platform, overcomes the limitations imposed by traditional Ethernet switches while
minimizing operating expenses to reduce the total cost of ownership.
• Dramatically improves network stability, scalability, availability and performance
• Quality of Service management enables support for different traffic types
• Superior provisioning tools speed deployment of new Ethernet services
For more information, please contact your Qwest Representative or go to
www.qwest.com.
Qwest Metro Optical Ethernet: Qwest Metro Optical Ethernet from Qwest Communications Corporation
is available in selected areas. Rates vary depending on speed and term commitment selected. Installation
charge may apply. Additional equipment may be required. Contact Qwest for availability and additional
restrictions. All marks are the property of their respective companies.
I N C O L L A B O R AT I O N W I T H
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Copyright © 2008 Qwest All Rights Reserved. Not to be distributed or reproduced by anyone other than Qwest entities.