White Paper - Florida Department of Health

“Reliability” - that the network and equipment will work as intended, that the end user can
consistently use the equipment for its intended purpose without operational error, and that the
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technologies can be reliably serviced with minimum downtime.
Networks
A network is a connection of related items, no matter what is being connected together. 8 In
telehealth, a network using wires, hubs, switches, and routers creates a computer network. 8
There are two basic types of computer networks.
“Local Area Networks” of “LAN” 8, 35 – A LAN is also known as an Intranet. A LAN connects
computers in a building or in an organization together so they are able to communicate with each
other and other computer based equipment such as printers, servers, and routers.
“Wide Area Networks” or “WAN” 8, 35 - A WAN, or Internet, connects LANs to other LANs so
they can communicate. This network is accomplished using wired or wireless
telecommunication connections and a device known as a router.
“Private Networks” 8 – are designed for the use of a specific organization or company. The
networks can use dedicated connections that are always on and ready for use (tends to be more
expensive), or they can use dial-up services that connect certain network devices on demand
(tends to be less expensive). Telecommunications provider may guarantee such factors as
constant bandwidth of the WAN connection and QoS. Guaranteed bandwidth means that the
capabilities of the WAN connection will not change. QoS on the other hand allows certain types
of data over a network connection to have priority over other types of data in an effort to
guarantee a certain level of connection quality.
“Public Networks” 8 - is a WAN connection which a number of other people share with little or
no guarantee of QoS. The telecommunications carrier cannot guarantee the speed and quality of
the data transmissions. One person on the connection could possibly interfere with the
information someone else may be trying to send or receive since it is all on the same connection.
“Virtual Private Network” or “VPN” 35, 42 - is a network that uses a public telecommunication
infrastructure, such as the Internet, to provide remote offices or individual users with secure
access to their organization's network. A virtual private network can be contrasted with an
expensive system of owned or leased lines that can only be used by one organization. Shared
networks are not secure unless the use of encryption software or hardware is used to ensure
privacy.
Telecommunication services
Telecommunication services may be supplied via phone service – wired or wireless - or cable
service. The costs vary greatly from service to service, from state to state, and between phone
companies. 41 Listed below are the most common types of telecommunications services utilized
in telehealth.
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