A leading regional healthcare system in New England, now part of a prominent, integrated healthcare network, faced growing demands on its digital infrastructure as patient services continued to evolve. With rapidly advancing innovations in technology, diagnostics, and imaging, the organization recognized that its existing data center environments would need to adapt to support current operations and future growth.
Evaluating Existing Infrastructure to Support New Requirements
The organization maintained two on-campus data center environments, each supporting critical applications and services. As server density increased, the existing infrastructure, particularly in one legacy space, was no longer equipped to handle the required power and cooling loads, creating a clear gap between infrastructure capability and operational demand.
Healthcare leadership evaluated multiple paths, including renovating current environments, consolidating into a single location, or developing a whole new data center strategy aligned with long-term requirements.
Working alongside a trusted project partner, Leading Edge Design Group (LEDG) was engaged to provide specialized data center expertise. The team assessed both environments to determine their ability to support increasing workloads, maintain redundancy, and meet strict operational expectations, particularly in a healthcare setting where uptime is essential.
Aligning Stakeholders Around a Practical Path Forward
A key component of the initiative involved close coordination with IT, facilities, and internal project leadership. Each group brought a distinct perspective, from performance and capacity requirements to mechanical systems and operational priorities.
LEDG worked collaboratively across these stakeholders to validate design decisions, explain certain tradeoffs, and gain alignment around vital elements such as cooling strategy, power distribution, and scalability. While the process required thoughtful discussion, the teams worked well together, resulting in sound decision-making and a shared understanding of the path forward.
Designing a Scalable, Resilient Data Center Environment
Based on assessment findings, the team developed a strategy centered on consolidating workloads into a newly designed data center while maintaining redundancy across campus. One legacy data center was decommissioned, with critical systems migrated into the new space, while a second environment remained active to support failover and business continuity.
The new data center was designed to accommodate higher-density deployments through more efficient cooling and airflow management. This allowed the organization to scale power and capacity over time as demands increase. In parallel, a new fiber backbone strengthened connectivity across the campus, ensuring that systems could communicate reliably between environments.
LEDG led the data center strategy and white space design, supporting equipment specification and procurement while coordinating closely with project teams so that implementation aligned with the design intent from start to finish.
Delivering a Well-Planned, Low-Disruption Implementation
With a clear strategy established during the design phase, the project progressed into construction with minimal changes, reflecting the due diligence of the upfront planning process. Regular coordination across stakeholders and contractors ensured installation and integration activities were in lockstep throughout. This multi-faceted approach enabled the organization to:
The hospital system now relies on a flexible, modernized infrastructure that supports life-critical operations while enabling stronger connectivity and coordination across the recently expanded healthcare network.
“The success of the project really came down to the collaboration across all teams involved. There was a lot of good discussion and mindful planning upfront, and once that foundation was in place, everything came together as expected.”
Bill Crane, Director – Design-Build Services
Leading Edge Design Group