HammondCare engaged RN Projects to assist with upgrades of their network infrastructure at their 12 residential care homes and villages, 4 hospitals, and several offices across Australia. The scope included structured cabling, switching and wireless.
We began with surveys of their existing networks, designed new solutions, assisted with value engineering, supplied the required equipment, planned, and executed the deployments and completed extensive testing and documentation, to make sure we met the objectives that were set by HammondCare.
The surveys commenced in June 2021, and we handed over the final documentation in September 2022.
Technical details
- The total amount of cabling used (in KM) –49km
- Total amount of APs updated -1,364
- Signal strength previously vs now – Previously the sites did not have an even or sufficient wireless signal strength across the required areas. Now all required areas are covered with a wireless signal strength of minimum -67dB on both the 2.4 and 5Ghz band.
- Speed of internet previously vs now – The previous network was limiting the speed available across the network all the way down to nonexistent. Now the network will deliver speeds of over 300Mbps, with a minimum of 25Mbps in all areas, enabling residents, guests, and staff to stream video in HD quality and video call at the same time.
Challenges and considerations
A major challenge during this project was COVID. Restrictions & lockdowns meant the team were wearing full PPE around patients, that we needed to plan remotely, and we had to divide the project up into different sections of each property, so if a COVID breakout occurred and the site had to lock down, the team could leave the site with a working network in place. We needed to be flexible, well-prepared and -coordinated, and demonstrate great sensitivity on site. In this way we were able to ensure that the client experienced little to no disruption for their residents and their operations.
Supply chain delays also created challenges with planning and deployments. We had to re prioritise areas schedules to make the most of what we had.