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Many hospitals depend on networks for information retrieval and research, so what sets the Sisters of St. Francis Health Services network apart from the rest? "We strive to maintain a maximum two-second end-user response time and 100 percent network availability--something mission-critical to delivering the finest patient care possible," explains Scot Busby, Alverno's senior network analyst. The Fast Ethernet, Token-Ring and SNA network processes more than two million CICS, e-mail and office automation transactions daily and utilizes disk storage arrays totaling more than one terabyte. "With such high amounts of traffic, our network remains reliable through the combination of our SNA, client/server and network management features," he adds.

According to Busby, the network includes two intranets for sharing co rporate information, network documentation and patches. He plans to consolidate both early next year to create a single site for corporate r eporting, contact lists and fulfilling various inquiries. The corporation may use Citrix Systems' WinFrame Access to facilitate this.

"We want a central way of delivering information to the desktop no matter where the individuals are in the enterprise," Busby says. Alverno implements Microsoft Corp.'s IIS (Internet Information Server) and O'Reilly & Associates WebSite software to manage the intranet.

HBOC Co.'s Pathways Healthcare application suite offers the necessary tools to deliver point-of-care information for patient care. PeopleSoft's Human Resources Information Management System helps the personnel department sort through and process thousands of forms. Amdahl Corp.'s Enterprise Servers run this application using a back-end DB2 database, Busby notes.

Employees use legacy applications, running on an Amdahl Millennium GS535 mainframe, for processes used in all aspects of health-care computing. Novell NetWare Connect and Citrix WinFrame handle remote-access traffic, while Attachmate Corp.' s Extra provides emulation and gateway services to DOS systems.

The new year will bring a migration to ATM switching technology, according to Busby. "ATM will enable the network to overcome the bandwidth limitations faced by the organization today," he explains.

For more information on Alverno's services and history and links to Sisters of St. Francis Health Services facilities, visit its Web site at www.alverno.org.