Customer Success Story
AI-driven network provides foundation for elderly care at Korian
Trust, innovation, and responsibility are at the heart of Korian’s promise to care for the elderly and fragile. Korian, one of the largest care-home operators in Belgium and the Netherlands, was in the process of updating its nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and assisted living centers to meet the needs of an aging population and is building a new style of community for active seniors.
A longtime customer of Juniper switching in its Belgium and Netherlands operations, Korian is migrating to Juniper AI-driven wireless networking as it refreshes the IT infrastructure in its care homes.
Overview
| Company | Korian |
| Industry | Healthcare |
| Products used | AP32, EX2300, Wireless (Wi-Fi) Assurance, Wired Assurance |
| Region | EMEA |
25-50%
Faster to deploy Juniper Wi-Fi at a location
Optimized
Voice quality for nurse call systems
173
Facilities in Belgium and the Netherlands are migrating to Juniper AI-driven wireless LANs
14374
Residents in Belgium and the Netherlands are served by the new network
Help people age with dignity
Korian takes an innovative approach to elder care that includes concepts like Stepping Stones, which are small residential care villas for people with cognitive disorders, and Saphir, which offers culturally sensitive residential care.
As it modernized and expanded its facilities to care for more people, Korian needed to refresh its wireless LAN to support a new Wi-Fi-based nurse call system and other digital location-based health technologies such as BLE tracking bracelets to safeguard residents and look after their well-being. Korian also needed a high-performance, reliable network to support voice and real-time alarms.
“When residents push the call buttons in their rooms, the alerts are sent directly to our care workers’ smartphones, meaning our improved, reliable Wi-Fi network supports a quicker response from workers,” says Christoph Van Doren, IT Director for Korian Benelux.
With the IT team overseeing 173 facilities in two countries, Korian also needed a wireless LAN solution that it could deploy quickly and easily, as well as manage centrally.
AI-driven wired and wireless are better together
Since Juniper had proven the performance and reliability of its switches from a previous deployment in Korian’s care homes, the Juniper AI-driven wireless LAN solution made it onto the Korian’s consideration list.
“We have five and ten-year-old Juniper switches in operation,” says Van Doren. “Juniper is very stable and we can maximize our investment.”
Korian is rolling out Juniper wireless in its care homes, with about 10% of the locations refreshed. Juniper AP32 Access Points and EX2300 Switches work in conjunction with the Juniper Mist™ cloud architecture driven by Mist AI™ to deliver more predictable, reliable, and measurable network connectivity for Korian’s caregivers, residents, and administrative staff.
“A Juniper network and Mist AI help us to provide high-quality voice communications in our care homes,” says Van Doren.
Centralized configuration and zero-touch provisioning simplify onboarding new Juniper access points and switches as facilities are updated. “When we perform a renovation, we can install a Juniper network in one day, compared to two days with our previous wireless solution,” says Van Doren. “Juniper is plug and play.”
Deliver on high-quality care mission
Staying connected to families and friends is important to the well-being of Korian’s residents and short-term recovery patients, whether they prefer to call, video chat, or email. Residents can use tablets in their rooms to watch movies, listen to their favorite music, and call the nursing staff if they need help. Voice communications are loud and clear. Families and friends have high-performance guest Wi-Fi when they come to visit.
Korian staff have fast, responsive access to their clinical and administrative applications, so they can stay productive and focused on patient care. Smart medical devices have the dependable connectivity necessary for Korian to provide optimal care.
AI-driven insights and automation streamline network management for an IT team that oversees facilities in two countries. Juniper Mist Wi-Fi Assurance and Wired Assurance automate key tasks and proactively address issues before they impact established quality-of-service levels. When there is an issue, the IT team uses the Juniper Marvis™ Virtual Network Assistant to find and fix the problem quickly.
“With Mist AI and Marvis, we can immediately see what the pain point is,” says Van Doren. “Marvis tells us if there’s a missing VLAN or a bad cable, which makes a deployment project run faster.”
The Products
AP32
The Juniper AP32 access point integrates Mist AI for AX capabilities to automate network operation and boost Wi-Fi performance.
EX2300
The EX2300 Ethernet Switch delivers a compact, high-density, cost-effective solution for small network environments where space and power are at a premium.
Wireless (Wi-Fi) Assurance
Driven by Mist AI and machine learning, the Juniper Mist Wireless Assurance cloud service automates troubleshooting and operations, making wireless networks predictable, reliable, and measurable while providing near-real-time visibility into user service levels.
Wired Assurance
The Juniper Mist Wired Assurance service brings Mist AI to access-layer switching. It sets a new network management standard with AI-native operations and automation, improving the experiences of devices connected to resources through Juniper EX Series Switches.
Published May 2023