PORTLAND, Ore., May 24, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Integra Telecom Inc., a provider of fiber-based, business-grade networking, communications and cloud solutions, announced that the Arizona Cardiology Group selected Integra's MPLS and Cloud Firewall Service (CFS) for its multi-site operations in Maricopa County, Ariz. The healthcare provider selected Integra in order to fully realize the benefits of its investment in a new electronic medical records (EMR) system; as a result, the Group has been able to provide better patient care while serving more new patients per day, contributing to an increase in revenue that has more than paid for the cost of the CFS subscription.

When the Group's new EMR system was deployed in 2010, its legacy hardware-based customer-premises equipment firewall was unable to support the system's 2,000-plus simultaneous connections in addition to the existing network load. When Abe Alirez, IT director at Arizona Cardiology Group, realized that the new system was consuming nearly all available bandwidth and overwhelming the organization's Wide Area Network (WAN), rather than purchasing another hardware-based network firewall he turned to Integra for a cloud-based solution.

"What the Arizona Cardiology Group faced is a challenge common to growing providers in the healthcare industry," said Joe Harding, Integra's senior vice president of marketing. "While new EMR systems and imaging technology can facilitate better care and significant increases in efficiency, they can also place more demand on the network and those tasked with managing it. Integra's solutions are well suited for organizations that want to invest in technologies to increase patient health, while reducing capital expenditures and simplifying IT operations."

Integra provided a multi-node MPLS featuring a 10-megabit connection coupled with the Integra CFS along with a management portal that Alirez can access from anywhere with an Internet connection, using a desktop or mobile device. The CFS provides visibility into applications that are in use, even if nonstandard ports are used to conceal traffic. Because it can inspect this type of network traffic, Integra's Cloud Firewall Service can control it as well. In addition, it is highly available, with redundancy that extends to all levels of the firewall.

"With Integra's MPLS and Cloud Firewall Service our WAN and firewall just work," said Alirez. "EMR images show up in almost real-time. We have better upload and download speeds and no packet loss between locations. That kind of performance and reliability streamlines our patient care, and it means that instead of troubleshooting I can focus our IT resources on projects that advance our business."

To learn more, contact Integra at 1-866-INTEGRA or visit http://www.integratelecom.com.

Scenna Tabesh, 503-913-1676, scenna.tabesh@integratelecom.com

James McIntyre, 503-546-1016, integra@mcbru.com

About Integra Telecom

Integra Telecom Inc. connects businesses by providing enterprise-grade networking, communications and cloud solutions to business and carrier customers in 35 markets across 11 Western states, including: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah and Washington. The company owns and operates a nationally acclaimed, best-in-class fiber-optic network consisting of a 5,000-mile high-speed long-haul fiber network and a 3,000-mile metropolitan access network including more than 2,000 fiber-fed buildings. The company has earned some of the highest customer loyalty and customer satisfaction ratings in the telecommunications industry. Integra Telecom is a registered trademark of Integra Telecom Inc. For more information, visit www.integratelecom.com.

About Arizona Cardiology Group

The founding partner of Arizona Cardiology Group began his practice of cardiology in Phoenix in 1969. Through the years, the practice has grown to its current 14 cardiologists. Although ACG's main office remains in central Phoenix, its physicians provide cardiovascular services throughout the state with branch offices in Goodyear, Tempe, and Scottsdale.

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