UPMC is the largest nongovernmental employer in Pennsylvania, with 87,000 employees, more than 40 hospitals, 800+ doctors’ offices and outpatient sites, and a 3.5 million-member Insurance Services Division. Affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, UPMC ranks No. 15 in the U.S. News & World Report Annual Honor Roll of America’s Best Hospitals and is a world renowned healthcare provider and insurer with deep roots in Pennsylvania. UPMC delivers Life Changing Medicine each and every day.
UPMC experienced tremendous growth over the course of a decade, leading the healthcare industry in innovation, research and patient care. As patient care delivery had become more dependent on the availability of technology, UPMC realized its on-site data center solutions were becoming outdated. UPMC CIO Edward McCallister was adapting to rapid industry changes, including the demand for higher quality care at lower costs.
“Technology was accelerating at a pace we’d never seen before. We needed a seamless solution that allowed us to focus on our core business while preparing for continual shifts in the industry,” McCallister said.
Aiming to deliver technology that was reliable, available and stable, McCallister and his team knew the organization needed a more robust data center that would include cloud services and a support system of technical expertise. So they launched an initiative to seek out an IT partner that could provide a next generation data center and position UPMC for the future.
The result was an UPMC and Involta partnership that not only gave UPMC the flexibility it needed to grow, but also enhanced security and prioritized connectivity. During an RFP process, Involta outperformed 19 respondents and quickly developed a strong relationship with UPMC leadership.
“We needed a nimble, flexible partner to grow with us,” McCallister said.
Involta worked closely with UPMC to analyze the costs, risks and benefits between building its own new data center and leveraging a colocation solution with Involta. During the planning process, cloud-based services continued to improve, and security and technology availability continued to become increasingly demanding, leaving UPMC leadership to re-evaluate its needs and opportunities. By partnering with Involta, UPMC obtained an enterprise colocation solution in a next generation data center that provided the security and availability the healthcare industry demanded.
Furthermore, Involta’s expanding cloud offerings and highly-skilled support staff have created a scalable environment that will meet UPMC’s needs for the foreseeable future.
Involta proposed a flexible colocation solution that included a strong partnership with UPMC, and offered security, compliance and the scalability needed for continued success. Involta’s BuildReadySM solution included the introduction of UPMC as an anchor tenant of a new, state-of-the-art, built-to-suit Involta-owned data center. As the anchor tenant, UPMC moved away from its own aging data center, without shouldering the high capital costs of building and maintaining an on-site facility. The solution Involta and UPMC worked on together allowed UPMC to keep its technology on pace with the ever-changing healthcare industry and provided the flexibility required to support a fast-growing national medical provider. When UPMC built a new tower at its flagship hospital in 2023, Involta was able to expand UPMC’s data center footprint seamlessly.
The partnership with Involta included:
Anchor tenants in Involta facilities leverage a highly secure, concurrently maintainable data center to house mission-critical IT systems. In addition, these industry-leading organizations benefit from direct access to Involta’s expertise in providing related managed services.
As more services move to the cloud and healthcare organizations decrease their technological footprint, Involta offers the flexibility to adapt. Involta works with clients in the healthcare industry to provide hybrid cloud, connectivity and colocation services that deliver expanded capacity for storing and transmitting data.
With Involta as a technology partner, clients can increase backup, recovery and restoration capabilities in the event of emergencies, safeguarding sensitive protected health records and data while keeping operations running seamlessly.
We’re here to listen, collaborate and help you build flexible modern technology solutions to transform your IT strategy.
