Leading Health Insurance Company Protects Network with Satellite Link and RAD’s Vmux-2100 Voice Gateway

WellPoint, one of the largest health insurance companies in the world, practices what it preaches by protecting the health of its own operations. Since minutes of telephone downtime can cause economic damage to the company and extended downtime can result in millions of dollars of losses, WellPoint recently implemented a comprehensive disaster recovery scheme to maximize uptime of its telephone network in case of natural or manmade disaster.

And none too soon: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, enacted in the wake of the Enron and Worldcom debacles, holds executives personally accountable for the economic viability of their companies and requires the implementation of business continuity measures, including disaster recovery procedures.

To realize its disaster recovery plan, WellPoint turned to the satellite division of Clear Channel, the largest radio and advertising conglomerate worldwide, which had the foresight to promote disaster recovery solutions as far back as 1999. “It’s vital that companies set up an alternative route to connect the building to the street,” says Don Harms, CEO of Clear Channel Satellite Services. “If that line is severed, even by a backhoe, all your communications are down.”

In the WellPoint solution, employees in its Missouri and California sites are shuttled to protective bunkers outfitted with workstations for hundreds of insurance agents. A mobile vehicle equipped with an Avaya PBX supporting thousands of lines supplies all interconnectivity for telephony and IP networks. RAD’s Vmux-2100™ voice trunking gateway installed in the van provides the satellite connectivity to the bunker.

In its practice drills, conducted every three months, WellPoint demands reestablishment of the network within four hours. The mobile vehicle equipped with RAD’s Vmux-2100 unit has consistently restored uptime within 45 minutes, well before WellPoint can complete the transfer of personnel to the bunkers.

“We sampled a large variety of VoIP and voice compression products,” states Harms, “and Vmux proved to be the most manageable and efficient product, with the lowest overhead and the best quality voice. Clients can’t believe the voice is traveling over satellite. It’s cleaner than their landlines.”

“Vmux helps us sell the disaster recovery solution. Vmux units pack 16 T1s onto a single T1 line, providing significant savings. The product is a key attraction for companies by providing disaster recovery while reducing voice costs on a daily basis,” concludes Harms.