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SBC Communications Announces New Data Network Contract With John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System

Posted on: Wednesday, 5 January 2005, 15:00 CST

SBC Companies Provide Communications Infrastructure for "Clinical Continuity"

SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE: SBC) today announced a new data networking contract with John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System (JMMDHS), a premier, not-for-profit organization providing high-quality, comprehensive healthcare to the communities of the San Francisco Bay area.

Under the terms of the contract, SBC companies will provide John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System with a Nortel equipment-based IP Telephony solution delivering seamless, scalable real-time business communications. The solution, which upgrades a Nortel IP PBX platform and adds Nortel Voice over IP (VoIP) wireless phones, will increase mobility of the employees and clinicians. The services also address the organization's need for expandability, network redundancy, and voice and data convergence.

The new IP-enabled platform will utilize a Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) Dedicated OC-12 Ring, a reliable voice and data infrastructure provided by SBC companies, and will help provide doctors and nurses with on-demand X-rays of trauma patients.

In addition, the IP-enabled platform will support traditional and wireless phone users in the healthcare provider's two hospitals, executive center, and a new medical office building in Brentwood, Calif., by allowing users to receive calls at any location on a single wireless handset. For example, a doctor can be reached whether implementing a procedure while located at Mt. Diablo Medical Center Campus, in a meeting at the John Muir Executive Center, or eating lunch in John Muir Medical Center's cafeteria - thereby eliminating the need for intrusive overhead paging or for its staff to carry additional communications devices.

Further, the upgraded infrastructure will also be able to interface with a planned integrated nurse call center that will enable nurses to be reached directly, from any location on the hospital's campus. This will help the organization increase productivity and, more importantly, improve the patient experience.

"We see our IT network as the central nervous system to our hospitals, and the data infrastructure that SBC companies are providing will help us maintain the clinical continuity of our organization by helping staff improve availability and accessibility," said Eric Saff, CIO, John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System. "In addition, SONET enables our medical staff to quickly assess a trauma patient's needs, which is essential in the E.R."

"We are glad to be able to not only meet the needs of John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System nurses and doctors, but its patients as well," said Robin MacGillivray, president, Business Communications Services, SBC West. "The newly IP-enabled platform combined with the high-speed foundation of our optical network service will result in the availability and reliability the hospital requires on a 24x7 basis."

The SBC solution is based on the Nortel Communication Server 1000 (CS 1000), a full-featured, server-based IP PBX that can be fully distributed over the IP LAN & WAN infrastructures of enterprise environments. Portfolio capabilities include call server geographic redundancy, SIP IP interoperability for simplified application deployment and support of wireless devices. Also included in the solution are Nortel's wireless IP Telephony handsets, which deliver rich feature functionality via the wireless communications infrastructure.

About John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System

The John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System is a not-for-profit organization providing high-quality, comprehensive health care to the communities of Contra Costa County and the greater Bay Area. The Health System offers the full range of medical services and is widely recognized as a regional leader in many specialties - including trauma care, cardiac care, neurosciences, orthopedics, oncology, and women's health.

About SBC

SBC Communications Inc. is a Fortune 50 company whose subsidiaries, operating under the SBC brand, provide a full range of voice, data, networking, e-business, directory publishing and advertising, and related services to businesses, consumers and other telecommunications providers. SBC holds a 60 percent ownership interest in Cingular Wireless, which serves more than 46 million wireless customers. SBC companies provide high-speed DSL Internet access lines to more American consumers than any other provider and are among the nation's leading providers of Internet services. SBC companies also now offer satellite TV service. Additional information about SBC and SBC products and services is available at www.sbc.com.

SONET is provided by SBC local exchange telephone companies, based upon the service address location.

Nortel is a trademark of Nortel Networks.

SBC, the SBC logo and other product and service names are trademarks of SBC Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (C) 2004 SBC Knowledge Ventures, L.P. All rights reserved.

Source: Business Wire

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