daily basis." And because
she has a virtual server,
she can add space at any
time. "There is a fee for
that, of course, but it's
still cheaper than buying
a new server," says Ms.
Meier.
The Eye Center pays a
$3,500 quarterly fee to its
IT vendor. Ms. Meier
says the beauty of the cloud is that it's transparent to her sur-
geons and staff. They still see the same icons on their desktops.
What they won't know — and what they can't see — is that all of
the software is being run in the cloud. Whatever software and
apps you're using in the cloud are the exact same products you'd
be using on premise — the same architecture, the same stan-
dards, the same products. A neat feature of using the software
without having to operate it is that surgeons and staff can access
their files from any workstation in the facility.
The Eye Center partnered with Keytel Systems in Reynoldsburg,
Ohio, as its IT vendor. Kristopher Haley, vice president at Keytel,
stresses the importance of connectivity to the cloud. "If you're rely-
ing on a cable modem and that cable modem goes offline, you've
lost access to your system, which can be a huge problem," says Mr.
Haley. "Any connection to a cloud system should be as good a qual-
ity as available." He says you should have a backup way to connect
to the Internet. If you rely on a cable modem, have a DSL line, so if
your cable provider goes down you have the phone company to
keep you connected.
OSM
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 0 9
• HELP DESK IS CLOSED Mary Meier, the administrator of the Eye Center in
Columbus, Ohio, is glad not to have to troubleshoot IT problems any longer.
The
Eye
Center
in
Columbus,
Ohio
