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BridgeWave's Gigabit Wireless Links Provide Secure Transmission of PACS, VoIP and Data Services for Franciscan Health System

Santa Clara, CA – June 25, 2009 – BridgeWave Communications, the leading supplier of gigabit wireless solutions, today announced that Franciscan Health System deployed multiple gigabit wireless links, providing secure transmission of Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS), voice, and data communications between several hospitals and its service center. Franciscan Health System selected BridgeWave's unlicensed 60 GHz radios for uninterrupted gigabit connectivity and ultra-low latency performance.

Since its founding in 1891, Franciscan Health System, based in Tacoma, Wash., has provided patients in the state of Washington with comprehensive healthcare services through its five hospitals, primary and specialty care medical group, same-day surgery centers, hospice and palliative care services, occupational health and physical therapy clinics, and centers for advanced medicine featuring state-of-the-art technology.

Franciscan Health System's network connectivity supporting one of its main business offices called the Service Center was comprised of two licensed 100 Mb/s microwave radios. The radio links soon began to fail, and the Service Center was often left with one link and unreliable network connectivity. Failure of the second 100 Mb/s link forced Franciscan Health System to look for alternative wireless solutions as the radios were too old for repair and moreover, resources to repair them were not available.

Ryan Drovdahl, network supervisor at Franciscan Health System, needed an economical solution that was reliable, HIPAA-compliant, quick to deploy, and could handle the bandwidth-intensive traffic associated with hundreds of billing and back office workers. With assistance from Moonblink Communications, a value-added distributor with a targeted focus on wireless systems, they initially identified lower capacity systems as a possible network solution; however, the lower capacity systems would not meet the bandwidth and reliability demands to support Franciscan Health System's needs.

Moonblink recommended a gigabit wireless solution, replacing the failed radio links connecting Franciscan's St. Joseph Medical Center and the Service Center. After reviewing several gigabit wireless vendors, Franciscan Health System selected BridgeWave's 60 GHz, AR60, products due to their ultra-low latency and fiber-equivalent performance. BridgeWave's 60 GHz capacity and AdaptRate mode switching offer reliable network connectivity regardless of inclement weather. During moments of violent downpour, the AdaptRate technology switches transmissions from GigE to 100 Mb/s data rates, maintaining a highly available link. In addition, the ultra narrow beamwidth of these links provide an added level of security and interference immunity that other wireless solutions do not offer.

In a matter of days, an AR60 link was purchased and installed, restoring network connectivity. Franciscan Health System decided to install additional BridgeWave 60 GHz links creating a gigabit ring between facilities to ensure a highly-available, secure network. As a result, Franciscan Health System is projected to save $500,000 over a five-year period using BridgeWave's gigabit wireless links, bypassing the costs associated with leasing Metro Ethernet services.

“We place a high demand on our network solutions here at FHS. With PACS, VoIP and literally hundreds of other mission-critical applications riding our network, availability, reliability, security, and performance are critical to the success of the business. Implementing gigabit radios in place of leased line services has not only produced superior performance at a low cost, we've also realized greater end-to-end visibility and control over our network environment,” said Drovdahl, the network supervisor at Franciscan Health System.

“Given the critical transmission of patient information, reliability, network security and compliance to HIPAA regulations are vital in running today's healthcare networks. BridgeWave is pleased that our 60 GHz gigabit wireless links are providing Franciscan Health Systems with a highly-available, economical LAN-like network solution,” said Amir Makleff, CEO at BridgeWave.

About BridgeWave Communications
Founded in 1999, BridgeWave Communications is the leading supplier of outdoor Gigabit wireless connectivity solutions. The company's exclusive AdaptRate™ and AdaptPath™ technologies combined with its advanced Forward Error Correction capability deliver the highest availability at the longest distances for full-rate gigabit links. BridgeWave's point-to-point, wireless solutions are widely deployed in mainstream enterprise and service provider network applications and are poised to play a key role in the migration to 4G mobile network backhaul. With the largest installed base of GigE radios worldwide, BridgeWave delivers the highest levels of product quality and reliability. For more information, visit www.bridgewave.com.

About Moonblink Communications
Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., Moonblink Communications is a value-added distributor with a targeted focus on wireless systems. With a broad wireless technology portfolio from the industry's leading manufacturers, Moonblink provides a complete spectrum of wireless solutions including WiFi, WiMAX, wireless VoIP, wireless surveillance camera systems, license-free and licensed broadband wireless solutions. This focus on wireless, as well as highly qualified sales, engineering and technical support personnel, have made Moonblink a leader in wireless networking equipment distribution. Moonblink serves all VARs and Integrators that service the enterprise, government, education, and security markets throughout the Americas. For more information please visit www.moonblink.com or call 1-877-623-5223 or 1-408-850-1143.