Polish Medical Air Rescue Uses Cisco Technology to Improve Services

Secure Local-Area Network Serves 16 Sites Across Country

WARSAW, Poland.- Cisco® today announced that Polish Medical Air Rescue has implemented Cisco technology to help improve patient care and provide more efficient and secure services. The Polish Medical Air Rescue, which operates 22 planes and helicopters in 16 sites across the country, provides emergency transport of severely ill or injured patients who require immediate specialized medical assistance, as well as transporting organs, medical teams, blood and medical products.

The new local-area network from Cisco connects all 16 sites and incorporates highly secure access control and storage solutions to safeguard intranet operations, documents and e-mail flow. “For an emergency operation such as Polish Medical Air Rescue, quick, efficient and highly secure communications and business continuity are key requirements. The implementation of a Cisco integrated security system and server and storage solutions enabled us to gain a unique level of system accessibility and security,” said Maciej Paczesny, CIO of Polish Medical Air Rescue.

The network deployed at Polish Medical Air Rescue uses Cisco’s Network Admission Control (NAC) system. Its main function is to control network access on user level, as well as to verify security policies on all devices that access the network, including laptops and desktop computers. “The implementation of NAC increased the security level of the local network and has reduced the risk of external attacks for the whole system,” Paczesny added.

“The Polish Medical Air Rescue project was a prestigious challenge for us. In this case, the security of the information and communications technology network is not only associated with the continuity of business processes, but will also help the rescue staff to focus on their essential tasks such as the care and security of patients,” said Grzegorz Wróbel, business development manager at Cisco Poland.

Polish Medical Air Rescue’s highly secure Internet connection is supported by two Cisco ASA 5520 Adaptive Security Appliances with Intrusion Prevention System modules operating in failover mode to ensure full redundancy. The local-area network is based on Cisco Catalyst® 2960 and 3750 Series Switches, as well as Cisco Aironet® wireless access points. The Network Admission Control system is based on Cisco 1113 hardware for the Cisco Secure Access Control Solution Engine. Cisco worked closely with Trecom, the Cisco Premier Certified Partner that implemented the system.