Black Box Designs and Installs an IP-Based Unified Communications Platform for Dearborn County Hospital

Business Wire, Jan 15, 2008

PITTSBURGH -- Black Box Corporation (NASDAQ:BBOX) announced today that the Dearborn County Hospital deployment of an advanced IP-based HiPath unified communications platform from Siemens Communications, Inc., which was designed and installed by Black Box Network Services, a leading U.S. communications integrator and authorized Siemens HiPath reseller, has been successfully completed. This platform will offer efficient and effective communications among doctors, staff, patients and patient families.

"We recognized that many communications advances had occurred over the past few years, and we wanted to see how they might help us advance the quality and efficiency of our patient care," said Albert Mathews, Assistant Director of Information Systems, Dearborn County Hospital. "We wanted to expand our traditional communications environment, enabling the use of IP telephony while preserving the existing wiring infrastructure to save costs and also wanted to use IP communications to integrate the hospital's physician offices and outpatient facility into a virtual hospital-wide system," he said.

"Together with Siemens, we listened to Dearborn County Hospital's needs and realized it had a tremendous opportunity -- not only to unify its wireline communications but also to enhance its emergency notification capabilities along with the addition of a new wireless infrastructure," said Steve Anderson, Vice President of Operations and Sales, Black Box Network Services. "Siemens and Black Box truly worked as a seamless team," said Mathews. "They helped us understand that unified communications truly means open communications, and they broadened the original scope of work to enhance our capabilities while introducing the benefits of increased mobility, efficiency, collaboration and responsiveness to our patients."

Mathews is most satisfied with the hospital's new unified communications system and the fixed-mobile convenience it brings doctors, staff, patients and their families. "We've only scratched the surface when it comes to the possibilities of our new communications infrastructure," Mathews said. "For example, the HiPath Wireless solution lets physicians who use electronic medical records access those files onsite. It also allows patients and visitors to communicate with loved ones, access educational and entertainment resources, and keep up with work activities - all of the things they would normally do in the course of a day on their computer at home or work."

"This is an excellent example of how a mid-sized, independent hospital can cost-effectively improve its ability to communicate, operate and ultimately provide better patient care by using Siemens HiPath open communications architecture," said Jeffrey Forbes, Vice President, Healthcare Solutions, Siemens Communications, Inc. "Not only has the solution set helped unify hospital communications, but it has also allowed the integration of their emergency notification and messaging systems. With a more integrated infrastructure, they can now unlock the potential for greater collaboration, productivity and efficiency, all of which can come together to improve patient care."

About Black Box

Black Box is the world's largest technical services company dedicated to designing, building and maintaining today's complicated data and voice infrastructure systems. Black Box services 175,000 clients in 141 countries with 187 offices throughout the world. To learn more, visit the Black Box Web site at http://www.blackbox.com.

Black Box([R]) and the Double Diamond logo are registered trademarks of BB Technologies, Inc. Siemens and HiPath are registered trademarks of Siemens AG or its subsidiaries and affiliates.