[SOLVED] Network for remote services

[Network38912]

Hello, I am working on a scenario in which a service provider maintains healthcare devices at many different hospitals. Each of these will create large files (up to 5GB) a few times per day that need to be sent to the provider's data center. Currently, healthcare devices are connected to an IPSec router that is connected to a data center through a VPN.

I am looking to come up with an alternative that makes it possible to use these remote services independently of the hospital's network, and therefore I considered making use of LTE routers with SIM cards instead to provide mobile connectivity.

Would this be a suitable approach in your opinion? I'd be happy to hear your thoughts!

 

[Ralston18]

Forum rules prohibit doing homework assignments.

And I can readily concede that your post may not be a homework assignment.

However, from this end, there is no way to know for sure.

What you need to do is post your ideas, solutions, approaches, etc. to the stated requirements.

Maybe some diagrams.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2173703/post-images-tomshardware-guide.html

Do so and then ask for comments and suggestions.

 

[Network38912]

Forum rules prohibit doing homework assignments.

And I can readily concede that your post may not be a homework assignment.

However, from this end, there is no way to know for sure.

What you need to do is post your ideas, solutions, approaches, etc. to the stated requirements.

Maybe some diagrams.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2173703/post-images-tomshardware-guide.html

Do so and then ask for comments and suggestions.

Thank you very much for letting me know! Yes, this is in fact not a homework assignment and I'd like to illustrate what I've been thinking so far.

Image

In the current situation, the service provider needs to work with the hospital's internal network to install new devices, which takes too much time. Therefore, I am looking for an alternative setup that allows to install new devices independently of the hospital's network.

I am wondering if this solution would work (albeit expensive), or if there are better alternatives?

 

[bill001g]

Your largest issue is going to be the cost. You are going to pay massive monthly bills transferring that much data.

Still if I was the hospital IT I would not allow this. For you to even ask this question shows you are likely not qualified to setup a secure network. How about if I come to your house and install some network equipment. You can just trust me that I do it correctly and do not compromise your network or expose your data.

Hospitals have much more strict requirements on data access than most other origination. It is not they only have credit card data that could be stolen. They could get sued out of existence for exposing personal medical data.

 

[Ralston18]

The new configuration is very high level and likely to raise many questions and concerns.

What you need to develop are the specific requirements that must be met by the new configuration. Likely to be a list of the requirements being met by the current/old configuration plus new requirements regarding performance, security, maintenance, etc. for the new configuration.

Umbrella view: Where you are now, where you want to be, and (in between) how to get there and what you need to do to get there.

And all within some budget amount and schedule.

The entire transition must be carefully worked out in great detail with all concerned parties involved. Especially so with the needs for security, patient privacy, backups, recovery, and implementation.

Not easily addressed, planned, and implemented.

Unless you have a really experienced team and the necessary on-site resources the plan is going require professionals experienced with such transitions.

That said, I am going to move away from the technical issues of design, construction, implementation, etc..

The driving factor for the new configuration seems to be "the service provider needs to work with the hospital's internal network to install new devices, which takes too much time."

Not a problem that will be resolved via technology per se.

Overall, the new configuration (very much a draft) is unlikely to resolve the true problems at hand. Could become even worse if you add in more devices, services, and human factors. Responsibilities will likely become mixed and any problems will result in much finger-pointing.

There should be some high-level meetings between hospital admins and the service provider to resolve the delay times for new devices.

Then work forward from there.

There may be other comments and suggestions based on your diagram and situation. Perhaps more technical suggestions.

 

[Network38912]

Your largest issue is going to be the cost. You are going to pay massive monthly bills transferring that much data.

Still if I was the hospital IT I would not allow this. For you to even ask this question shows you are likely not qualified to setup a secure network. How about if I come to your house and install some network equipment. You can just trust me that I do it correctly and do not compromise your network or expose your data.

Hospitals have much more strict requirements on data access than most other origination. It is not they only have credit card data that could be stolen. They could get sued out of existence for exposing personal medical data.

I am by no means the network architect, but I'd nevertheless like to know what kind of alternatives to the current situation would be feasible. What if the service provider can ship out new devices together with an LTE router and SIM card? That would save time and money compared to having a mechanic install them in the hospital's network?

The new configuration is very high level and likely to raise many questions and concerns.

What you need to develop are the specific requirements that must be met by the new configuration. Likely to be a list of the requirements being met by the current/old configuration plus new requirements regarding performance, security, maintenance, etc. for the new configuration.

Umbrella view: Where you are now, where you want to be, and (in between) how to get there and what you need to do to get there.

And all within some budget amount and schedule.

The entire transition must be carefully worked out in great detail with all concerned parties involved. Especially so with the needs for security, patient privacy, backups, recovery, and implementation.

Not easily addressed, planned, and implemented.

Unless you have a really experienced team and the necessary on-site resources the plan is going require professionals experienced with such transitions.

That said, I am going to move away from the technical issues of design, construction, implementation, etc..

The driving factor for the new configuration seems to be "the service provider needs to work with the hospital's internal network to install new devices, which takes too much time."

Not a problem that will be resolved via technology per se.

Overall, the new configuration (very much a draft) is unlikely to resolve the true problems at hand. Could become even worse if you add in more devices, services, and human factors. Responsibilities will likely become mixed and any problems will result in much finger-pointing.

There should be some high-level meetings between hospital admins and the service provider to resolve the delay times for new devices.

Then work forward from there.

There may be other comments and suggestions based on your diagram and situation. Perhaps more technical suggestions.

Thank you for your detailed response! Those are some great tips to work on an actual business case for this scenario. But before diving into the details, could you point me to any alternative high-level concepts that could work independently from the hospital's network?

 

[Ralston18]

"could you point me to any alternative high-level concepts that could work independently from the hospital's network".

Doing so would probably be counter-productive because my knowledge of the hospital's network, admin, policies, etc. is limited to what has been presented throughout this thread.

And the premise of "independent" is likely to be moot from the start.

If your goal is to just learn more about networking and commercial networking then there are many readings and tutorials available.

Google words and phrases such as "Best practices for hospital data networks".

I found many links just from within the "Past year". There are many complexities and considerations that must be addressed.

Here is just one link that resulted:

http://www.turn-keytechnologies.com...s/five-common-problems-with-hospital-networks

That link and the others are all the more reason for you/the hospital to get professionals involved.

 

[Network38912]

"could you point me to any alternative high-level concepts that could work independently from the hospital's network".

Doing so would probably be counter-productive because my knowledge of the hospital's network, admin, policies, etc. is limited to what has been presented throughout this thread.

And the premise of "independent" is likely to be moot from the start.

If your goal is to just learn more about networking and commercial networking then there are many readings and tutorials available.

Google words and phrases such as "Best practices for hospital data networks".

I found many links just from within the "Past year". There are many complexities and considerations that must be addressed.

Here is just one link that resulted:

http://www.turn-keytechnologies.com...s/five-common-problems-with-hospital-networks

That link and the others are all the more reason for you/the hospital to get professionals involved.

I'm mainly interested in learning how remote services can be provided, but mobile connectivity is expensive and I assume IoT methods cannot be used for large data transfers. Therefore, without focusing on the regulations of the healthcare industry, I would like to learn how large data transfers can be done without using an existing network.

 

[Ralston18]

In pre-network and pre-internet times, data was transferred via magnetic tapes and large/heavy disk drives ( just somewhat bigger than a wheelbarrow tire). Physically carried from site to site or backup locations.

If the data is on an existing network you cannot do large data transfers without that network (and likely a few others) being involved.

The data must first be accessed via the host network with all of the necessary security approvals and requirements.

Overall, the concept(s) you seem to be asking about fall into the category "Data Migration" or "Data Transfer" perhaps.

That is where you would focus your research - at least as a starting point.