With
more than 1.5 million customers, Vhi Healthcare, Ireland's only
specialist health insurer, prioritises quality customer service. A new
partnership with AirSpeed Telecom has helped Vhi Healthcare continue
to deliver on this commitment through an uncontended licensed
wireless link to Dublin from its Donegal contact centre.
"Last
year Vhi Healthcare had over 1.2
million contacts with members through telephone, email and text
messages," said Pat Lyons, Telecoms
Manager for Vhi Healthcare.
"Quality customer service is very important to us and we are
continuously reviewing our operations and processes to ensure we
have the most up to date systems in place. The availability of new
connectivity in the Donegal region into the AirSpeed national network
gave us the opportunity to install a new, uncontended licensed
wireless link which would improve our network access."
10
Mbps uncontended, Donegal to Dublin:
New microwave radio network infrastructure was installed for Vhi
Healthcare on two high sites in the region to create a 10 Mbps
connection direct to the Vhi Healthcare head office on Abbey Street
in Dublin. Following implementation and testing, the link went live
in early 2009 and now carries essential data traffic to support the
work of staff in the Donegal office.
Major
improvement in speed:
Based on speed test results conducted by the Vhi Healthcare telecoms
team before and after the implementation of the licensed wireless
connection, there has been a massive 50% reduction in transmission
times. "The change to a licensed wireless link was all about
improving performance and reliability for us, and that's what we've
achieved," said Pat.
Licensed wireless - an expanding
national network for Ireland
Vhi
Healthcare becomes the latest organisation to tap into the power of
Ireland's expanding licensed wireless network based on microwave
radio technology. Using point-to-point and point-to-multipoint
connections, the national network supports the establishment and
enhancement of private wide area networks for multisite organisations
in the public and private sector.
The new
expansion of the licensed wireless network into Donegal,
incorporating 26GHz point-to-multipoint technology, now allows
offices in the region to connect in at bandwidths from 1Mbps to
100Mbps for data communications, as well as accessing E1 connections
for telephony. With build-out in the region now complete,
provisioning times are typically as rapid as two to three weeks.
"We have very high expectations of what our network should provide, and this technology gives us the performance and the business support we need," Pat Lyons commented.
