Case Studies

Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center

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Challenge:

MSKCC's reliance on digital imaging, wireless technologies and bandwidth-intensive applications has raised the center's networking requirements substantially. To that end, the network team upgraded the enterprise network from ATM-based to a Gigabit Ethernet backbone several years ago in order to provide additional network throughput and ensure fast delivery of large electronic files and images. When it came to connecting different buildings to the center's Local Area Network (LAN), the team traditionally used a combination of leased lines, ranging from T1s to point-to-point 100 Mbps circuits, and Proxim Tsunami wireless Ethernet bridges to route traffic throughout the five-node, mesh-network topology. While the wireless bridges, which were based on microwave radio frequency (RF) technology, were suitable for long-haul network links, Guy became concerned that overlapping frequencies could cause network interference.

"In making the jump to a Gigabit LAN, we greatly improved overall bandwidth capacity and didn't want to stifle the flow of traffic with RF products that operate at speeds of 10-to-700 Mbps," says Guy. "We didn't want to overburden the network and create traffic jams between buildings." The IT team also wanted a solution that could deliver up to Gigabit Ethernet speeds without having to dig up the streets of Manhattan to lay fiber-optic cable. Faced with prohibitive licensing, costly fees, lengthy timetables and numerous metropolitan obstacles, the team decided that fiber wasn't the route to take. Instead, they began looking at various outdoor wireless solutions, including optical wireless based on free-space optics (FSO) technology.

Optical wireless is a line-of-sight technology that use beams of light as the primary data path and is license-free worldwide. This high-capacity, point-to-point outdoor wireless solution offers the capabilities of fiber-optic cable, yet is priced more affordably and could yield a return on investment in two years. For MSKCC's Guy, working with optical wireless was familiar terrain. Prior to joining Memorial Sloan-Kettering, he worked with a team on an optical wireless deployment that connected a building to the New York City headquarters of Tribal DDB Worldwide, one of the largest and most creative advertising agencies in the industry. "Optical wireless was by far the most ideal and cost-effective solution for providing high-bandwidth connectivity between the two buildings," Guy recalls. "It was easy to install and worked flawlessly, which made me think it would work well for Memorial Sloan-Kettering, too."

LightPointe Solution:

In reviewing different optical wireless solutions, Guy focused on offerings from LightPointe, a pioneer in the space with thousands of systems implemented in more than 60 countries and a growing list of blue-chip customers. LightPointe's FlightT family has earned high marks for linking two or more buildings in classic LAN-to-LAN connections with bandwidth up to 1.25 Gbps.

After reviewing the product line-up, the team set their sights on LightPointe's FlightSpectrumT 155, a field-proven and time-tested outdoor wireless product that delivers Fast Ethernet bandwidth speeds. They felt that the FlightSpectrum offered the optimal balance of high capacity and affordability for linking a remote facilities building to the main campus, which was located about 500 meters away. As part of extending the reach of the enterprise network to the building, the team wanted to leverage its Cisco Systems CallManager VoIP system and Unity voicemail system, which are centrally located to provide voice service to remote sites, including those connected via the LightPointe optical wireless links. The high-bandwidth FSO products permits voice and data communication over the same link, while using Quality of Service (QoS) ensures that voice traffic is prioritized over data.

Since MSKCC centrally manages its IP telephony system, it was relatively easy to use the FlightSpectrum to deliver voice and data services to the remote employees as though they were working from the main campus. "We were able to reap significant cost savings from our optical wireless implementation," says Guy. "The FlightSpectrum provided ample bandwidth for carrying the additional traffic, allowing us to maximize our investment in existing equipment without incurring additional capital expenditures." MSKCC also relies on LightPointe's FlightManager in conjunction with HP OpenView used by the network operations group to monitor real-time performance of the optical wireless links.

Following the success of the IT team's first optical wireless installation, they identified another opportunity to use optical wireless for connecting MSKCC research scientists with peers at Rockefeller University, one of the foremost research centers in the world. The university sits across the street from Sloan-Kettering Institute; yet digging up a busy Manhattan thoroughfare to link the two sites as well as purchasing a leased line were out of the question. The team briefly considered using microwave RF technology to provide the necessary connectivity, but optical wireless offered greater bandwidth and was easier to install and maintain.

MSKCC installed LightPointe's FlightStrataT Fast Ethernet product to provide 100 Mbps connectivity between the two locations. The installation went smoothly, reinforcing the viability of optical wireless as a high-speed transport solution. Initially, the IT team faced some skepticism over optical wireless reliability. "Over the past three years, the LightPointe links have withstood rain and snow fall," notes Guy. "These products are very reliable."

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