Fiber, Fixed Wireless, Colocation, CST, Customer Spotlight

At a Glance
A Michigan-based health services company worked with 123Net to upgrade their communication infrastructure.

Customer
Critical Signal Technologies

Industry
Health Services

Opportunity
Critical Signal Technologies needed a scalable network that could support their fast-paced, life-saving business.

Solution
123Net collaborated with CST to build an efficient, reliable and scalable network, tailored to meet the needs of their elderly and chronically ill customers.

Critical Signal Technologies (CST) is a health services company seeking to empower older adults, people with disabilities, and those battling chronic illness to live independently and with dignity.  They make it easy to connect care, improve outcomes, and drive ROI 24/7 through user-friendly technology and enhanced remote monitoring.  CST focuses on melding tech plus touch to provide patients with simple push-button care systems that connect seamlessly to their always-on social work team.

The Challenge
In the health services industry, having a dependable, dedicated internet connection is critical. Especially at CST, where patients often need help during life-threatening emergencies.

“In our business, having a minute of downtime is far too long,” said Marc Odle, Director of IT at CST. “Our ability to respond to our patient’s calls and alerts can be a matter of life or death.”

With the high-speed, life-saving nature of their business, it became essential for CST to build a top-of-the-line communication backbone to support it. They needed a foundation that was not only capable of providing enough bandwidth to support their patient monitoring systems today, but sustainable enough to meet their changing needs moving forward.

To construct this, they needed an Internet service provider sharing similar, customer-focused, values that displayed the same willingness to grow as CST. With growth comes the need for change and sophistication, and as a company poised to continue expanding, they needed a partner to help them make these adaptations over the long-haul.

The Solution
Ultimately, 123Net ended up being the like-minded Internet service provider they were looking for. As a company that puts customer service at the top of their priorities, it was not hard for CST to see many of the same qualities in 123Net.

From start to finish, 123Net’s friendly staff helped CST work out a solution that met each of their specific needs. CST handpicked fiber, colocation, wireless failover, PRIs, and cloud fax as 123Net services to support their patient monitoring system. Project management was thorough, updating CST on tasks, and they were consistently completed within specified deadlines.

It also helped that 123Net was not only local, but an industry leader in the field. 123Net is 100 percent enterprise-focused, making them experts in providing the premier Internet solutions for large-scale operations like CST.
W
ith 123Net’s scalable network solutions in place, CST knew their business would be future-proofed moving forward.

Results
CST was impressed with 123Net as soon as one of their nine in-house construction crews got to work.

“From the moment 123Net first installed their fiber, it was obvious that we had made the right decision,” said Odle. “Their fiber team worked in a safe and efficient manner, securely laying conduit in the ground instead of hanging our fiber from poles. We appreciate their safety-first mentality.”

123Net emphasizes the quality of their work when installing their fiber. This is evidenced by their focus on underground fiber. They avoid hanging fiber aerially from poles unless it is the only option (permitting reasons, high-traffic areas, physical limitations, etc.). Drilling fiber underground gives better protection against weather, tampering and other accidents.

CST respected the fact that every 123Net employee understands their services from top to bottom. The fiber team seemed to know just as much about their technology as the engineers behind it. 123Net’s in-house design, permitting and construction help them avoid hurdles that slow down other Internet service providers. 123Net is an agile company, capable of providing flexible solutions fast.

Whenever problems have arisen, which are few and far between, 123Net’s local, business-focused support team has helped immediately. 123Net’s support team quickly provides 24/7, world-class support at their customer’s convenience through email, phone and online support requests.
CST improved the stability, reliability, and performance of their network with the help of 123Net. With their new, state-of-the-art communication infrastructure in place, over 100,000 patients and their family members now take comfort in knowing that they will always have instant access to CST’s health services now and for the foreseeable future.

Standalone Quote
“Our relationship with 123Net is a partnership above all else,” said Odle. “They are always willing to meet with us to create mutually beneficial solutions. They are professional, local and ready to help us whenever we need it. We can tell that their employees love what they do, and it is reflected in their quality of work. We are happy to know that we have a reliable, long-term partner that can support our business as it continues to grow.”

Services Provided

• Fiber Optic Internet
• Fixed Wireless Internet
• Colocation Space
• PRIs
• Cloud Fax Service