Tanzania’s Health Insurance datacentre procures Siemon cabling solutions

With a population of almost 52 million people, Tanzania is the 13th largest country in Africa but still one of the poorest in the world. However, there has been growth in the national economy and the government has pledged to improve the level of healthcare across the nation.

Launched in 2001, the National Health Insurance Fund is Tanzania’s largest health insurance scheme and is compulsory for public sector workers. The scope of National Health Insurance Fund coverage has been widened since 2009 to include private sector workers and cover a range of heath related services, with employers giving 3% contribution and employees also paying 3%.

As the scope of National Health Insurance Fund has grown, so has the organisation’s reliance upon information technology to facilitate its administration and support services. As part of its upgrade programme, National Health Insurance Fund decided to configure a new datacentre at its headquarters in Dar es Salaam.

Bakari Yahaya Mhamali, National Health Insurance Fund’s Datacentre Manager, explains, “We wanted a facility that could provide us with cutting edge performance in the short-term but also cope with our projected expansion plans. To configure the best possible solution, I contacted Emerging Communications.”

Also based in Dar es Salaam, Emerging Communications provides qualitative and cost effective services to a variety of clients and has a diverse range of accreditations and approvals from technology vendors.

Saidi Buhero, Emerging Communications’s Managing Director, states, “We have a team of qualified, motivated and experienced personnel that can configure datacentre solutions. As a Siemon Certified Installer, after discussing the various options with Bakari, I had no hesitation in recommending a solution that made extensive use of the company’s products.”

Buhero’s strategy centres around deploying six Siemon VersaPOD cabinets that meet high-density requirements of the modern datacentre. VersaPOD leverages the vertical space between bay cabinets for patching and cable management, freeing critical horizontal space for active equipment and providing superior density in minimum floor space.

In a standard server rack configuration, 48 port patch panels required for patching to each server each occupy 2U worth of horizontal space. With VersaPOD cabinets, these patch panels can be mounted in the vertical patching area. For added security, the cabinet doors of the VersaPOD can also be locked to prevent access to the server connections but still allow access to the patching zones.

Based on comparison studies, Siemon claims that VersaPOD cabinets can reduce the number of cabinets required in a typical datacentre by 20%.

https://youtu.be/rLBOtbxAlas

With a total of 92 copper connections, the National Health Insurance Fund datacentre also requires Category 6A cabling that exceeds current standards. Siemon’s Z-MAX 6A F/UTP solution was considered the most suitable option by combining performance and usability with security and noise immunity. It also helped speed up the installation.

Iyer Sivakumar, Simeon Africa Sales Manager, says, “Due to its innovative design, Z-MAX 6A offers significantly reduced installation times when used in conjunction with our Z-MAX Termination Tool. This combination means outlets can be terminated in as little as 60 seconds, which helps reduce labour time and costs.”

Complementing Z-MAX is Siemon’s XGLO multimode high density plug and play optical fibre cable, incorporating modules, reel and connect panels. XGLO utilises laser-optimised fibre for superior transmission performance for up to 10 Gigabit Ethernet applications and exceeds ANSI,TIA,EIA and ISO,IEC insertion loss and return loss requirements.

As with Z-MAX, installation time is also saved thanks to the use of Siemon’s fibre mechanical splice termination tool and connectivity system.

The new datacentre has been a success and National Health Insurance Fund’s Bakari Yahaya Mhamali is confident that the network infrastructure solution configured by Emerging Communications will ensure a level of future proofing. “We have the added peace of mind through a Siemon twenty-year warranty, which covers products, performance and applications assurance.”

https://youtu.be/kJ_OzHEDLns