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Overcoming unique networking challenges at Herston Quarter

View of a large building with lights

OSA has the ability to find the ideal networking solution for even the most challenging projects. Clients rely on us to supply, design and support networks within critical industries such as the medical sector and this includes hospitals, health clinics and educational research centres.

We recently completed a major engineering services network (ESN) installation for the Queensland Government’s Metro North Health. The redevelopment of Herston Quarter included a brand new hospital built within the existing Royal Brisbane and Women’s campus. We are exceptionally proud of our successful involvement in this outstanding project.

Shane Hajetian, Project Manager at Fredon, and Colin Biggs, Services Manager for BESIX Watpac, discuss the complexity of the job and how partnering with OSA enabled them to deliver exactly what their client required.

Empty staff station inside an empty building

Redevelopment for Metro North Health

The redevelopment of the five-hectare site within the Herston Health Precinct began in March 2017. Metro North Hospital and Health Service, along with development partner Australian Unity, oversaw the $1.1 billion transformation.

The overall project included a private hospital, public health facilities, aged care and retirement living, residential accommodation, childcare facilities, retail and restaurants. BESIX Watpac managed the construction of the new hospital. Colin knew from the outset that there would be complexities within the build.

“This was a greenfield site… a complete new build, and we always knew it was going to be a challenge to integrate all of the newly constructed ICT systems with an existing facility. Having to integrate with the adjacent Queensland Health Campus and delivering the new building as a private public partnership required well-planned solutions.”

Empty laboratory area

Complex project scope

Watpac engaged Fredon, and their project scope of works included all the hospital electrical and communication systems required across the new eight level building. Shane says,

“We were responsible for all the internal systems… these included the power and lighting generators, the UPS, the nurse call security, CCTV, RTLS – real time location system – and lightning protection.

Many of these systems rely on the ethernet networks of the ESN… this is where we turned to OSA to procure the network.”

“This was a greenfield site… a complete new build, and we always knew it was going to be a challenge to integrate all of the newly constructed ICT systems with an existing facility. Having to integrate with the adjacent Queensland Health Campus and delivering the new building as a private public partnership required well-planned solutions.”

Tables and chair cubicles inside an office building

There were numerous challenges in the Herston Quarter project that required the OSA team to leverage their experience and present professional solutions. The initial hurdle was demonstrating that we could deliver what was necessary. Shane explains,

“In general, the health sector has a panel of approved ICT vendors. These are the organisations that are usually used for major health projects.

When we first started, the client’s existing network was CISCO, so there was a preference to have uniformity and use CISCO again. While we faced some initial hesitation, Graham Brown and the OSA team were able to overcome this. Their presentation of products and their impressive knowledge won the client over.”

Cable wire connected to modem

Pre-staging to guarantee success

The next challenge was managing the Metro North Health firewalls and their intricate security policies. Both Colin and Shane knew that this was going to require extensive network design, pre-staging and testing to ensure that the installation process would be a success. Colin was mindful that any delivery delay would result in significant penalties, so it was crucial that OSA got it right.

“We identified the integration into the existing campus as a big risk. We had to make sure that the systems were working in a timely manner… or we would incur penalties. Fredon and OSA started working on a test rig one and a half years before delivery. By establishing a test rig we were able to bring in some of the equipment we were going to use in order to test and validate connectivity and integration. We created firewalls and created all the messages that needed to go to each side of the fence; it took us almost a year to get it done. We were able to get all the other vendors to do their work ahead of time to make sure that everything worked perfectly.”

Multiple cable connections to modem

For Shane, it was important to know that the OSA team understood the critical nature of the project and was always focused on the end result. He relied on Graham, Mohsen and the other OSA technicians to deliver.

“There were many factors involved here and a lot of complicated systems to work with. The existing Metro North Health network could have been a major issue. Graham and the team were involved in a lot of meetings, liaising with Metro’s IT to make sure that the new systems would interface seamlessly.”

“We identified the integration into the existing campus as a big risk. We had to make sure that the systems were working in a timely manner… or we would incur penalties. Fredon and OSA started working on a test rig one and a half years before delivery. By establishing a test rig we were able to bring in some of the equipment we were going to use in order to test and validate connectivity and integration. We created firewalls and created all the messages that needed to go to each side of the fence; it took us almost a year to get it done. We were able to get all the other vendors to do their work ahead of time to make sure that everything worked perfectly.”

Aruba networking products

OSA developed the ESN utilising a range of Aruba networking products. We installed a pair of Aruba core 5406R-zl2 chassis switches configured as a single logical switch. The edge switches are Aruba 2930M multi-rate and 802.3bt PoE switches configured as stacks throughout the building.

The network has redundant diverse path 10Gbps uplinks to each of the two main communications rooms with redundant 40Gbps links between the communications rooms. Redundant high performance Next Generation Firewalls inspect and protect the network from malicious traffic and Aruba Airwave network management software monitors the system.

Empty Staff station in a building

Communication achieved excellent results

Good communication between all key stakeholders is essential for such a detailed project. Part of Herston Quarter’s success was the partnership between all involved organisations. Watpac, Fredon, OSA, Metro North IT team and all the subsystem’s IT teams worked together with the end goal of delivering a state-of-the-art system for patient care.

And now, we are looking forward to continuing the strong relationship forged over this extensive timeline. Shane says,

“Prior to this project, Fredon had only utilised OSA as a materials supplier… we purchased our cables and patch leads from them, but we’d never used their active gear or professional services before. Graham, Mohsen and the whole team were outstanding, and OSA is now one of our preferred partners. I’ll always talk to Graham first when I start a new project.”

Here at OSA, we can help determine exactly what your business networking requirements are, to ensure your network is working at its optimum level, whilst mitigating risk. When you are ready to upgrade your system or simply need some advice, contact us today for a no obligation chat.

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