Case

HMC lays the foundation for digital healthcare with a future-proof network architecture

HMC simplifies and standardises its network with a fabric architecture and NIaaS model from Conscia. This reduces the management workload by 20–40% and provides a scalable, stable foundation for digital care and smart hospital initiatives.

The growing complexity and end-of-life status of its existing network limited HMC’s ability to support its digital healthcare ambitions.

By migrating to a fabric-based architecture and adopting a Network Infrastructure-as-a-Service (NIaaS) partnership model with Conscia, HMC has fundamentally simplified and standardised its network foundation. This enables the organisation to implement changes faster and with greater control, while providing a scalable and future-ready platform for smart hospital initiatives.

Through standardisation, automation and the adoption of NIaaS, HMC expects to reduce its operational management workload by 20–40%. At the same time, the new approach delivers a more stable and predictable network environment with fewer disruptions. This creates more capacity for the IT team to focus on innovation and supporting patient care.

A network under pressure

Haaglanden Medical Centre (HMC) is a major regional healthcare organisation in The Hague area, formed through the merger of three hospitals and employing more than 4,500 people. Every day, complex and critical healthcare processes rely on an extensive IT and network infrastructure.

HMC’s three hospital sites operated on a network that had reached the end of its lifecycle. In addition, the merger had resulted in multiple technologies, processes and ways of working coexisting over the years, all supported by a single IT team responsible for maintaining network continuity and security. This made network management increasingly challenging.

HMC has ambitious digital transformation plans, including building modernisation programmes and the expansion of IoT and smart hospital applications. To support these ambitions, the organisation sought a future-ready network architecture. The goal was not only to refresh ageing infrastructure but also to create a network that would be easier to manage, faster to adapt and more scalable.

Why HMC needed to modernise

According to Ron Herman, Coordinator of Server, Storage and Networking at HMC, a combination of ageing infrastructure and the need for a future-ready foundation drove the decision to modernise the network.

“The existing environment had become increasingly complex. As a result, changes were difficult to implement and required significant resources and time. That simply doesn’t fit a hospital environment, where unexpected changes can occur and need to be implemented quickly.”

Assessing the impact and potential consequences of vulnerabilities also became increasingly difficult.

“With the rise in cyber threats, we had to spend more time analysing risks and implementing appropriate measures. Network expertise is scarce, making improved manageability and standardisation strategic necessities,” says Ron Herman.

HMC chose a Network Infrastructure-as-a-Service (NIaaS) model together with Conscia. This approach reduces the need for manual management and highly specialised in-house expertise, as Conscia provides support for complex network changes. The result is an environment where modifications can be implemented faster, more consistently and with less burden on HMC’s IT team.

Building the foundation for further digitalisation

HMC operates two data centres and has deliberately chosen to keep many systems on-premises, partly due to its critical role in regional acute care services. This consideration played an important role in selecting Extreme Fabric as the target network architecture. The migration covered HMC’s entire wired network infrastructure, including both data centres, the DWDM rings, and the complete core, distribution and access network across all three locations. Replacing network authentication for both wired and wireless networks was also within scope.

The fabric architecture significantly simplifies network segmentation, change management and scalability compared with traditional network designs. It also provides a strong foundation for continued digitalisation and future smart hospital initiatives.

Another key design principle was simplifying network operations through the NIaaS model. Instead of performing complex manual changes, HMC can now rely on Conscia to execute modifications through standardised processes supported by a library of validated scripts and automation tools. This enables new network services to be deployed more quickly and reliably while reducing the risk of human error.

Why HMC chose Conscia

For HMC, technology was only part of the decision. Equally important was how the network could be managed and further developed in the future. A combination of factors proved decisive: the fabric-based approach as a means of simplification and HMC’s longstanding partnership with implementation partner Conscia.

Conscia helped design an operational model centred on standardisation and automation. This enables changes to be implemented faster and more consistently while reducing the risk of disruptions. At the same time, HMC retains full visibility into its environment, supported by regular operational and strategic reviews with Conscia.

We considered several alternatives, but they fell short in terms of manageability, roadmap, partner fit, or timing. The combination of Extreme Fabric and Conscia’s ability to deliver it gave us the highest level of confidence.

Ron Herman

Coordinator of Server, Storage and Networking at HMC

A complex hospital implementation

The migration itself was highly complex. Unlike a new building project, a hospital must remain fully operational until the very last moment. This requires parallel environments, phased cutovers and a period during which issues cannot always be immediately attributed to either the old or the new network. HMC began by migrating the core and distribution layers, followed immediately by the data centres.

“At a certain point, two networks are running side by side. When something happens, the first question is whether it originates from the old network or the new one. One of the most challenging moments was connecting the VMware gateways. During that phase, we temporarily had three different types of networks running simultaneously. That made analysing impacts and dependencies much more complicated. The new network architecture has now eliminated that complexity.”

Results and impact for HMC

Since commissioning the new core and data centre network, HMC now operates a single, uniform network foundation across all three locations.

This foundation enables further standardisation of network management and more consistent implementation of changes, while continuing to meet the healthcare sector’s demands for speed and reliability.

By implementing a standardised Extreme Fabric architecture combined with a NIaaS support model, HMC has taken a major step towards creating a manageable and future-ready IT environment. From an operational perspective, HMC expects significant efficiency gains. Through standardisation, automation and outsourcing complex network activities, the time spent by the IT team on daily management, analysis and troubleshooting is expected to decrease by 20–40%. This creates more room for innovation, support of clinical processes and governance activities rather than day-to-day operational management.

In addition, the NIaaS approach directly contributes to greater network availability and predictability.

By using standardised configurations, automated changes and specialist support from Conscia, human errors are reduced and changes are implemented more consistently. The result is a more stable and manageable environment with a lower risk of disruptions affecting continuity of care.

“Day-to-day operations should primarily remain our responsibility,” says Ron Herman. “More complex configuration and routing activities stay with Conscia.”

What we see at Haaglanden Medical Centre perfectly demonstrates the strength of our NIaaS approach. By standardising the environment and largely automating operational management while assigning it to Conscia, organisations gain greater stability and predictability within their IT environment. The network becomes not only easier to manage but also significantly more agile.

Fernand Warmerdam

Healthcare Lead at Conscia Netherlands

Fernand Warmerdam, Healthcare Lead at Conscia: “For HMC, this means less dependence on scarce specialist expertise and the ability to implement changes faster and more consistently. At the same time, they retain control over their environment while we ensure continuity and ongoing development. This gives the IT team the freedom to focus on innovation and supporting healthcare delivery rather than managing infrastructure complexity. That shift is what truly turns the network into a genuine driver of HMC’s ambitions as a modern hospital.”