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Located at Tel Hashomer, Israel, Sheba Medical Center is the largest and most comprehensive medical center in the Middle East. The Sheba center has 120 departments and clinics, 1,700 beds, and close to 7,000 healthcare professionals who provide almost four million treatments and medical tests to more than one million patients per year. Situated on a 150-acre campus on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, the Sheba Medical Center is Israel's leading hospital, recognized nationally and internationally for its excellence in healthcare and medical research.

 

 

As an emergency treatment center, all communication channels, in particular cellular voice and data, must always be available to doctors, maintenance staff, patients’ families, and other emergency medical personnel, in all areas of the medical center.

 

Several years ago, when only 2G services were available, there was poor coverage inside the campus buildings, especially in hallways, stairwells and underground floors. To address this situation, the Israeli cellular operators decided to deploy an In-Building Wireless (IBW) Distributed Antenna System (DAS) solution in order to extend the 2G cellular signals in-building. Since one operator had a GSM 1800 network and the other had a CDMA 800 network, a dual band solution met the requirements at that time. 

 

In 2008, the proliferation of 3G services, the addition of new bands, and the expansion of the medical center campus buildings, mandated the upgrade of the Sheba medical center IBW system. The challenge was to find an efficient and cost–effective solution in order to minimize costs and avoid deploying a new, in-building DAS. 

 

The existing infrastructure was checked to determine whether it can be scaled up to support additional bands and cellular services. The result showed that while technically feasible, it would be very costly and time consuming. For example, in order to add GSM900 and UMTS2100 support services to the existing solution, additional fiber pairs and remote units would have to be installed and connected, doubling the number of remote units and fibers.  Consequently, the power supply, power backup, and the cooling system would have to be upgraded, which would mean additional investment and labor. Therefore, the operators decided to look for an alternative solution. 

 

The operators conducted a thorough analysis of both the technical and commercial aspects of Optiway’s AllAccess solution. Their conclusion was that not only does Optiway’s solution meet all the technical requirements, but it also delivers a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) that is 80% lower than the cost of upgrading the current system. 

 

The overall cost and technical benefits of Optiway’s AllAccess optical DAS were so attractive, that it was selected to replace the already deployed solution. 

 

“We were impressed by the superior technical capabilities of Optiway’s solution. With Optiway, we can support 4 different bands and any mix of cellular services from all 3 Israeli cellular operators over a single optical DAS infrastructure concurrently”, said Vladimir Rabinovitch, Radio Network Hardware & Indoor Solution Manager at Orange Israel. 

 

Thanks to its flexible advanced design, the AllAccess branch unit slashed the network complexity and cost.  This solution uses an active architecture that supports multiple bands and drives up to 20 antennas with no signal degradation – delivering the highest quality of service everywhere. One AllAccess branch unit replaces 4 remote units of alternative solutions. 

 As a result, Optiway’s AllAccess solution uses only 70 branch units to deliver always-on quality to the entire Sheba Medical Center, compared to the 150 units that are required by the alternative solution. This allows the operators to cut the investment by 55% and simplify installation and maintenance, thereby decreasing the deployment time by 50%.

 

Additionally, the project size demanded a distributed system that uses fiber optic cables. The longer reach of a fiber system was needed, as there were many floors and special areas to cover within the building, including stairwells and hallways. Optiway’s AllAccess optical DAS solution had saved more than 6 Kilometers of coax cable deployment, providing superior technical performance at a much lower cost.

 

Optiway’s AllAccess deployment has improved productivity and overall patient care by providing Sheba Medical Center’s personnel with the latest wireless technologies, services and applications.  Visitors and patients enjoy a great wireless experience and access to information while receiving the best medical treatment.

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