Round Rock, Texas, January 9, 2006 - The 175-year-old Regional Center at Memphis, Tennessee's oldest hospital and widely referred to as "The Med," has partnered with Dell to deploy the latest technology for electronically recording and accessing patient information when and where it is needed most.

"By integrating standards-based Dell technology, we can ensure that clinicians have access to accurate, real-time patient data, enabling them to make informed treatment decisions and reduce the potential for errors," said Rhonda Nelson, chief nursing officer of The Med.

The Med has standardized on Dell desktops and notebooks across the organization. It has deployed the devices on 100 Stinger mobile carts, allowing clinicians to access patient data and record notes electronically.
"Today, most health-care organizations are focused on increasing efficiency and maximizing budgets," said Linda Rebrovick, vice president for Dell Healthcare. "Standards-based technology enables organizations like The Med to cut cost, time and waste out of every aspect of operations - from clinical processes to patient admission. And patients can benefit by knowing that their medical information is kept up to date and secure."

As more patient records are created in or transferred to an electronic system, The Med becomes more dependent on its IT infrastructure. To help ensure that patient data is always available, even during temporary power outages or other crisis situations, The Med has worked with Dell to construct complementary data centers at its Memphis and Nashville facilities consisting of two Dell/EMC storage area networks (SANs). Combined, the SANs can store up to 21 terabytes of information. All hospital data is balanced between the two sites, giving The Med's IT staff the capability to quickly recover data in the event of a disaster.

"With Dell's help, we have designed an infrastructure that balances critical and non-critical systems in our two data centers. Now, all systems can be used in production all the time, and non-critical systems can be promoted to operating the critical systems when a disaster occurs, without the cost of purchasing standby systems that rarely get used," said Matt Elkins, IT director of The Med.

Dell also worked with The Med to install an EMC Centera data storage system that houses and helps protect information that is not intended to change, but must be readily available and unaltered, such as diagnostic imaging, MRIs and CT scans. Now, radiologists and other clinicians can access PACS images and other archived documents in seconds, instead of hours or days, which helps improve the emergency and critical-care clinical decision process and The Med's compliance with medical record regulations.

"Dell has been a great partner for The Med," said John Ortego, chief information officer of The Med. "They've done a fantastic job helping us create an overall technology strategy that addresses our needs from the point of care through the enterprise level, both today and in the future."

About Dell
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is a trusted and diversified information-technology supplier and partner, and sells a comprehensive portfolio of products and services directly to customers worldwide. Dell, recognized by Fortune magazine as America's most admired company and No. 3 globally, designs, builds and delivers innovative, tailored systems that provide customers with exceptional value. Company revenue for the last four quarters was $54.2 billion. For more information about Dell and its products and services, visit www.dell.com.

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