The Medical Monitoring Industry faces many problems that are currently preventing them from upgrading systems to work over IP and Cellular networks.
IP Alarms have set about addressing these technical problems and provide products and solutions that allow Medical Monitoring Companies to migrate existing systems to modern networks within the cost constraints imposed by uncertain economical times.
When IP Alarms released a standalone IP based medical monitoring module over a year ago, we figured there would be a mad rush to upgrade existing PERS units to transmit over IP instead of PSTN. We were wrong. Luckily, our partners who monitor tens of thousands of PERS over PSTN, educated us as to some of the reasons why.
The three main reasons are power failure, network failure and cost. If the power fails, the IP network will also fail unless it has a backup power source. The price of a UPS prevents an upgrade from being cost efficient. Equipment cost and ongoing monthly costs also have to be kept to an absolute minimum. To overcome the hardware problems, it is essential that any upgrade equipment has its own modem & router and takes on the responsibility of maintaining the Internet connection even during loss of mains power. IP Alarms have sourced and developed such a device which is compatible with DSL networks.
We have also partnered with a forward thinking manufacturer who are modifying their existing PERS unit to address the above problems. We have explained the special power & network requirements and work is already underway to provide solutions. This will provide a solution for new installations.
Addressing the basic power and network equipment problems may be enough for some to start upgrading existing systems to IP as most Internet connections are very reliable and even PSTN cannot gaurantee 100% uptime.
One last problem to solve is what happens if the Internet connection fails due to problems at the ISP ? The obvious answer is that the solution needs to failover to using a cellular network. Existing cellular providers in North America are not geared up for audio and their plans are cost restrictive. We believe the answer is to provide the subscriber with a cellular unit that supports audio communication with same PSTN based alarm receiver that it currently communicates with over a PSTN line. To keep costs to an absolute minimum, it is essential that the subscriber be allowed to use the SIM card of their choice with the option to tie into their existing cellular plan for their mobile phone.
Again, IP Alarms have sourced such a device and we working with our new manufacturing partner and looking at the best ways to package everything together as a single, modular solution. Watch this space !