New IT infrastructure with IBM technologies for Prachatice Hospital with maximum performance

Nemocnice Prachatice, a.s., is a regional healthcare facility with 170 beds and more than 400 employees, providing comprehensive outpatient and inpatient care. It offers a wide range of outpatient services, including a dialysis center, emergency room, laboratory and radiological diagnostics, including MRI, as well as surgical, gynecological, and orthopedic operations. It serves not only the residents of Prachatice and the surrounding area as a modern hospital with a personal approach. It focuses on high-quality diagnostics and effective treatment, supported by regular staff training.

The hospital has undergone significant modernization and regularly invests in equipment and facilities. It cooperates with other healthcare facilities in the South Bohemian Region and is part of an integrated care system prepared for current and future challenges.

In a hospital, any delay or system failure is a matter of patient comfort, safety, or even health. However, the IT infrastructure that ran daily operations was reaching its technical limits and was dependent on a single data center. With the growing number of systems, applications, and digital care requirements, it was clear that the hospital needed a more reliable and powerful foundation.

The hospital needed infrastructure it could rely on even in crisis situations. The main priority was to ensure uninterrupted operation even in the event of a single site failure, speed up backups, and strengthen data protection against cyber threats. At the same time, the new solution had to provide sufficient performance and space for the future development of systems, which are constantly increasing with the digitization of healthcare.

However, at an advanced stage of the design, changes in the market fundamentally affected the project's technology strategy. It was therefore necessary to reevaluate and redesign the entire original infrastructure concept. As part of our offer, we proposed a new architecture that not only met the technical requirements but also the need for long-term predictability and support. The result was the selection of the Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization platform in combination with a separate FC SAN infrastructure and IBM FlashSystem primary storage, which delivered the required performance, reliability, and ease of management.

When designing the solution, we based our approach on the actual load of existing systems and the need for performance reserves in the future. The result was an architecture spread across three data centers. Two newly built centers complement the existing location. Even if one center fails, the hospital's key systems remain fully accessible.

The solution is designed with an emphasis on redundancy and reliability. Computing power, disk storage, and network elements are duplicated. The data centers are connected via FC SAN infrastructure, and virtualization runs on the Microsoft Hyper-V platform. Key services are operated in high availability mode and, in the event of a failure at one location, are automatically launched elsewhere, minimizing downtime for users. The hospital emphasized simple and effective management. Given the scope of the infrastructure, we designed automation, remote management, and pre-prepared templates. This allows the IT team to focus on development and operational support instead of routine maintenance.

The implementation took place mainly in new data centers outside the current operating environment. Thanks to the expertise of the hospital's IT department, the implementation went smoothly and efficiently. The resulting solution meets the current demands of the healthcare environment and is ready for further development. The excellent cooperation between Aricom specialists and the hospital's IT team played a major role. Thanks to their active approach, we were able to plan the project precisely and manage it without complications.

Today, everything runs so smoothly that virtually no one is aware of the infrastructure. And that is precisely the best possible standard in a hospital environment, where every second counts.

The speed, stability, and smooth operation of the hospital's new infrastructure is powered by IBM FlashSystem 5300 storage. With minimal latency and fast access to data, key systems run smoothly—from medical records to diagnostics to operational support. During urgent procedures, doctors have the necessary information immediately at their disposal, saving them precious seconds.

IBM FlashSystem forms a reliable foundation for the infrastructure. It combines full redundancy, intuitive management, and data protection. It can handle both everyday operations and emergency situations, is easily expandable, and, thanks to automation, does not burden the IT team with unnecessary administration. The resulting infrastructure meets the demanding requirements of the healthcare environment and gives staff the confidence that they can rely on technology that works quietly, reliably, and without compromise.