This laser communication consists of two Laser Communications Inc. (LSI) OmniBeam 4000 line-of-sight laser units, placed at either end of the network (St. Agnes Hospital and the remote site). One unit, comparable to the size of an average desktop PC, transfers the data from fiber to laser through a light-emitting diode and sends the signal to its companion unit. The second unit transfers the signal back to fiber to Cisco's Catalyst 5000 Ethernet switch to the users' desktops, according to Lawson. Each diode lasts about three to five years, he adds. Lawson reports that the health-care facility saved $210,000 by choosing laser over an all-fiber network.

Despite its cost-effectiveness and dependability, laser does have a drawback, but St. Agnes' IT group has it covered. Lawson says occasional morning fog in Baltimore shuts down the laser because the beam hits the moist air and reflects without reaching its original destination. So St. Agnes has a point-to-point T1 line to serve as backup during these times. "This creates a slight time lag, which often goes unnoticed by our users," Lawson says. "Some notice the speed change, but the T1 line allows them to get the job done."

St. Agnes HealthCare depends on the use of Medical Information Technologies' MediTech Client/Server Windows NT-based application, according to Lawson. It provides the hospital's various departments--and soon will provide all its affiliated pharmacies--with standard applications for financials, patient care, data reporting and other functions. Lawson reports that by August at least half of the modules will be online, enabling pharmacies to input a new prescription and retrieve patient data. Pharmacists will be able to charge a patient's account automatically for any prescriptions via MediTech's accounts payable and receivable features.

The St. Agnes team developed the company intranet, SAINT (St. Agnes Intranet), with Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Information Server 4.0 and the Java HTML language. The Microsoft Index Server provides the search engine where users can find information on individual departmental home pages, according to Lawson.

Learn more about St. Agnes HealthCare by visiting its Web site at www.stagnes.org. It offers information on health-care provision and ancillary services. "It's like calling up a supermarket," says Lawson. "It's better to walk down the aisles to find out what you want and that's just what our site provides."