Alcatel wins $300M IP health care deal

Alcatel today announced what a spokesman called “our largest enterprise win ever, anywhere”: a multi-year $300-million contract to migrate the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) to a converged IP network.

The job, which will begin next year, entails updating the large health care provider’s wireline and wireless networks, creating a common IP network for its voice, data and video needs. Though Alcatel won’t disclose the length of the contract, a spokesman said the majority of the project should be finished in four years.

UPMC comprises 19 hospitals, 400 outpatient sites and doctors’ offices. It employs 43,000 people and reports nearly $6 billion in annual revenue. Its current network includes 156 individually managed telephony systems, 31 voice mail systems and 26 individual call centers. It will be Alcatel’s job to integrate them all.

When asked which Alcatel products would be included in the project, a spokesman said, “It’s really an entire portfolio win.”

As part of the deal, Alcatel and UPMC will each invest $25 million to develop health care applications and solutions. The two will focus their joint effort first on public safety applications, including those that allow first responders and other health care providers the means to securely share information during emergencies. Alcatel plans to eventually sell the applications worldwide, though it would not describe timetables for the joint venture.