Network Architecture Saves Welsh Health Provider Energy

Cwm Taf University Health Board in Wales has installed IGEL “thin clients” – computer terminals that divert the bulk of their processing to a remote server – across its hospitals, clinics, surgeries and administration offices saving management time and cutting energy costs.

The IGEL units use 30 W compared to its old PCs that were using 300 W. Today, the health board has 2,500 IGEL thin clients in use, out of a total of 4,500 desktops and is slowly moving across to the thin clients as old PCs are replaced.

The health board has IGEL UD3 and UD5 Linux devices running a Windows 2008 desktop connected remotely using Citrix’s XenApp 6. The set up currently uses 120 virtual Citrix servers, allowing the healthcare provider to reduce the number of physical servers from 30 to just four.

As well as the desktops, the hospitals are also using wireless connected IGEL thin clients on their medical carts on the wards. They connect to the network using a dongle via the USB port.

In 2012, GE said the data center at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center uses GE’s SG Series Uninterrupted Power Supply with eBoost technology, and operates at 99 percent energy efficiency in eBoost mode. GE’s system provides emergency and back-up power to Rush’s 13-building hospital from a central energy plant in 10 seconds or less, enabling critical, uninterrupted power to the East Tower Building’s telecommunications systems.