Riyadh’s largest private hospital, Al Hammadi has received maximum protection from high sources of heat following Reichle & De-Massari (R&M)’s cable solutions, the company says.

R&M also delivered offset copper panels and unirack fibre panels for a data centre built by the hospital on the basis of its recommendation as well as providing ground support.

R&M installed its Category 6 LSZH (low smoke zero halogen) cable, which releases low smoke zero halogens in the event of proximity to high heat or fire.

Tool-less Category 6 connection modules as well as PCB-free and OM3 LSZH fibre cables were also installed.  To ensure maximum protection against potentially disruptive elements in addition to heat, R&M provided water and dust protection outlets as part of the protection plan.  Installation of protection outlets in accordance with IP54 for areas that have these utilisations was recommended.  In total, R&M installed 2,900 new connection points throughout the hospital’s expansion area. 

Protecting data transmission is critical in a health facility as numerous patient records are stored and need to be accessed quickly, at times in urgent situations. In line with these needs, R&M’s network plan recommended that a small data centre be configured.

For the data centre connectivity, R&M advised the installation of off-set copper panels capable of handling 24 ports each and high-quality, tested unirack fibre panels. These solutions guarantee optimum results for the operation process as well as data transfer.

R&M also addressed one of the key requirements for Al Hammadi’s new network which is that it needed to be scalable in order to accommodate future operations and the expected data traffic increases over the coming years.  R&M’s entire product portfolio of passive and active solutions have the ability to adapt, enlarge and be customised, keeping any network infrastructure running at its optimum with zero downtime or slowdown regardless of peaks in data traffic.

QUALITY APPRECIATED
R&M’s Swiss-manufactured solutions were also a determining factor in being tapped for the project, a company statement said.  “R&M’s Swiss quality solutions were appreciated and comply with Al Hammadi’s desire to implement the highest levels of quality for the network.  This ensures that Al Hammadi meets current national and international facilities standards.   

Outlets IP54: surface and flush-mounted

“R&M also supplemented the renowned Swiss quality of their products by providing timely on-the-ground support.  R&M’s local office in Saudi provided responsive consultation and guidance on R&M’s copper and fibre range in order to craft a solution to meet Al Hammadi’s requirements.  As a result, hospital network planners chose R&M over their competitors,” it said.

R&M’s local partner on the project was Wipro Arabia. Wipro Arabia Ltd, a joint venture between Wipro Limited and Dar Al Riyadh, one of the kingdoms’s most respected and admired organisations. Headquartered in Bangalore, India, Wipro provides comprehensive IT solutions and services, including systems integration, information systems outsourcing, IT-enabled services, package implementation, software application development and maintenance, and research and development services to corporations globally. 

Wipro Arabia is a strategic IT partner to some of the biggest names in Saudi Arabia providing IT services and solutions across various sectors such as telecom, banking, oil and gas, government and healthcare.

R&M Saudi and Wipro Arabia have worked together on several projects and maintain a long standing relationship of collaboration.  For the Al Hammadi Hospital expansion, their R&M certified installers provided a timely and error-free installation, supported by a deep knowledge of R&M’s product portfolio.   

NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE
Al Hammadi Hospital is the latest in a series of significant cabling installations done by R&M. The Saudi healthcare sector is known as one of the most advanced in the Middle East, offering comprehensive and expert medical care services to the kingdom’s citizens. 

With hospitals and practitioners having continually to improve the level of healthcare services and stay abreast of medical best practices, investing in a state-of-the-art network infrastructure is seen as one of the important approaches towards that end. 

R&M has expertise in understanding the special requirements of the healthcare sector, and has completed several projects throughout Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. The Swiss cabling company completed the installations of its modular solutions for King Khaled University Hospital’s network infrastructure expansion in Riyadh.

It develops and produces cabling solutions for communications networks and is well-regarded for its copper and fibre optical products. The company has its own marketing organisations in over 30 countries and generates 75 per cent of its sales abroad. EBIT was 6 per cent.

The company invests more than $9 million in research and development every year. R&M is one of the largest companies in Switzerland and currently has more than 600 employees. It is wholly owned by the Swiss Reichle family and is now being run by the second generation as an independent family-owned firm.