One Call Medical is Only a SONET Ring Away

By Jim Sullivan, Director of Network Operations, One Call Medical

The Customer

One Call Medical, Inc. (OCM) is a premier outsourcing organization providing scheduling service through its national network of credentialed providers. OCM’s customers include the nation’s leading worker’s compensation insurers and thirdparty administrators, as well as self-insured employers.

The Challenge

The healthcare industry has to be consistent and reliable. One Call Medical needed to ensure that its entire service area could depend on it whether the skies are sunny or dark and stormy. What OCM needed was a telecommunications services provider that understood the criticality of ensuring the security and reliability of its daily business operations and, if necessary, the continuity of those operations in a disaster recovery situation. The organization’s commitment to excellence and a high level of customer service dictated that its mission critical data be accessible at all times.

OCM needed to find a place to back-up its systems completely separate from its headquarters. If there was an unavoidable catastrophe to either the New Jersey or California headquarters all of its critical data would be destroyed. It was imperative for OCM to find a location separate and accessible from both locations. OCM’s primary business is dependent upon its call center being up and operational. OCM needed to have a fault-tolerant infrastructure in place.

The Solution

OCM turned to Level 3 Communications (News - Alert) to provide a premium, fiber-optic backbone network. Level 3’s Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR) Transport Solutions are designed for high bandwidth, high availability, high security BC/DR needs. These solutions provide an array of data transport options, co-location facilities, support for storage networking connections, and Level 3’s years of experience delivering network services for BC/DR applications.

Level 3 provided a SONET ring, which redundantly connects One Call Medical’s New Jersey headquarters to its co-location space in Level 3’s Parsippany, New Jersey, central office. The ring transports OCM’s Voice, Data and Internet services. Weather-related incidents, traffic accidents, and vandalism can cut a traditional network connection and interrupt business communications. Level 3’s network combines guaranteed bandwidth with self-healing, fiber optic ring technology to keep data, voice, and video flowing reliably and securely. Furthermore, since fiber optics are virtually impossible to tap, a dedicated network provides a private connection that prevents intruders from accessing information.

One Call Medical’s co-location in the Level 3 facility, a duplication of OCM’s systems in both its New Jersey and California headquarters, serves as a “hot standby” for a complete disaster recovery/business continuity solution. In the event that a disaster would affect either of OCM’s headquarter facilities, its communications services will be live in the Level 3 central office, eliminating the potential for any inconvenience to OCM’s customers caused by an interruption in its communications services. Level 3’s co-location facilities provide a fault-tolerant secure environment with physical and network security.

The Results

If a Disaster should occur, OCM is confident that Level 3 will keep its communications and files intact, resting assured that its data is safe. Level 3’s SONET ring redundantly connects OCM’s offices to a co-location facility that provides a secure, shielded environment.

“Level 3 has always been very responsive to our needs. Again, when I say responsive I mean prompt in their service and reliability,” said Fernando Guerrero, vice president of telecommunications at One Call Medical. “Our main concern when it comes to telecommunications and Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery is to have a good relationship with our provider. Level 3 has done just that by creating a partnership through their continued support and dependability.”

Level 3’s 24/7 Network Management Center and its National Repair Center perform proactive and sophisticated selfdiagnostics and fault analysis on its systems regularly. These intricate steps ensure the secure transportation of business communications day in and day out. Around the clock monitoring and maintenance of Level 3’s network provides customers with the availability, security, and reliability they demand in a telecommunications provider. IT

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