Via Christi Regional Medical Center Selects Whale's e-Gap Solution to Provide Physicians Secure Anywhere Access to Digitized Radiological Images


FORT LEE, N.J., Jan. 6, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) --


   Multi-Campus Acute Care Facility Gives 1,000 Physicians Remote
          Access to X-Ray, MRI and CT Scans Leading to More
                    Than $500,000 Savings Annually

Whale Communications(r) today announced that Via Christi Regional Medical Center has selected Whale's e-Gap(r) Remote Access Appliance to provide some 1,000 physicians secure access to digitized radiological images, leading to a projected savings of more than $500,000 annually.

Via Christi, the largest Catholic not-for-profit medical center in Kansas, had decided to go "filmless" and needed to give some 1,000 Wichita-based physicians, who have hospital privileges but are not direct employees of the health system, remote access to digitized X-Rays, MRIs and CT Scans.

"When we discovered that with the e-Gap we could enable access to the images and patient information leveraging any regular Internet browser while maintaining the highest level of security, we knew from a technology standpoint we had solved our problem," said Michael Knocke, Applications Manager at the medical center. "It was a natural extension to then use the same solution to enable our 4,000 or so employees web access to our Intranet."

Via Christi employees are now able to access their email and other internal applications from any regular web browser, which Knocke said was an "added benefit we hadn't counted on."

Knocke also said that implementing the e-Gap Appliance helped the health system in regards to compliance with the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which is setting national standards to protect privacy in electronic transactions in the health sector.

Whale Communications' award-winning e-Gap product suite provides secure SSLVPN solutions, also referred to as clientless VPNs, which offer a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) than traditional VPNs. The e-Gap solutions enable businesses to rapidly deploy secure web-based access to corporate network resources. Companies worldwide are using Whale's products to give employees and partners access to corporate resources from any location -- be it an Internet cafe, client site or home.

"For Via Christi, safeguarding their patients' information was paramount and we were happy that they recognized the e-Gap Appliance as the most secure method for enabling remote access," said Howard Moser, Whale's VP of Sales. "We of course were also pleased that they saw an immediate ROI as they no longer have to worry about producing and delivering the images to the physicians."

About Whale Communications

Whale has been securing web applications since it was founded in 1998. Its e-Gap products have won numerous industry awards, and are currently utilized around the world by leading firms in numerous vertical markets. Privately held, Whale is funded by prominent venture firms and industry leaders, including Goldman Sachs, Network Associates, Inc., Soros Private Equity Partners and the BRM Group, the founding investor of Check Point Software Technologies.

Whale Communications, e-Gap, Whale and the Whale logo are trademarks of Whale Communications Ltd. All other trademarks are property of their respective holders. For more information about Whale visit: www.whalecommunications.com.



            

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