BEAVERTON, OR – Biamp Systems today announced that its Vocia critical paging and life safety system has been installed as part of the technical upgrade underway at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, the only Oregon hospital to make the list of Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals 10 times.

The renowned Northwest facility recently recognized it needed a paging system that was on par with the standard of care it is known for. Providence St. Vincent selected Integrated Systems Group (ISG) to install a critical paging system that would reliably deliver superior intelligibility, ensuring every page would be clear and understandable, and go through every time. In addition, the system needed to accommodate the medical center's requirements for safety and expansion in the future.

ISG -- one of the largest electrical contracting companies in the Northwest -- selected Vocia for the project and conceptualized the installation of the new critical paging system in three phases. The flexible and scalable design of Vocia made it ideal to meet the current and future needs of the medical center. With Vocia, ISG was able to design a decentralized networked architecture, which proved key for this installation -- if a paging station were to encounter issues, the system would continue functioning and automatically alert administrators of the matter. Essentially the system has no single point of system failure and helps maintenance technicians find and address any potential issues before they develop into a problem.

"The benefits of this new system are being experienced every day," said Jim Gainer, TSS Instrumentation Manager for Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. "Critical pages now have clearer, more consistent levels and sound quality, and staff can confidently rely on the new system. The new system delivers reliability, flexibility and system monitoring -- allowing us to successfully manage our environment of healing."

In the new system design, which incorporates 12 paging stations throughout the facility, ISG took a number of steps to streamline the system and create a network of components that is much easier to manage and maintain. This included:

Eliminating most of the paging amplifiers that had previously been scattered throughout the facility and centralizing them in a single unit

Adding the ability to monitor wire runs and overall system health
Replacement of wiring nests of dead-end, broken and cut wires with clean, secure wire runs
Leveraging Vocia's modular architecture to provide options for expanded paging capabilities and life safety interface

According to ISG Account Manager Erik McCarty, "The new system provides greater versatility, functionality and reliability. Having a quality digital paging system with supervision, reporting and alarm capabilities provides assurance to the staff at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center that the system will be there for them when they most need it."

"We know the subsequent phases of the installation will provide even greater versatility and flexibility, as the system is expanded to other areas of the medical campus," said Gainer. "Because the system is expandable and provides an intuitive system interface, we will have complete oversight of the whole campus so we can proactively address any issues that might arise."

"We're honored that one of the premier medical facilities in Oregon, located just a few miles from our headquarters, has chosen to use a Vocia critical paging system," said Steve Metzger, President, Biamp Systems. "We think that Providence St. Vincent is an institution of excellence and the addition of Vocia makes perfect sense for their multi-building facility. The subsequent phases of this project are a great fit for the scalability and flexibility of this product."

Vocia is a powerful and scalable critical paging and life safety system designed for facilities of all sizes. Employing Biamp's rich audio legacy, Vocia incorporates superior intelligibility, distributed processing, page routing and networked audio and control -- features not often found in many of today's paging systems. Vocia's networked approach eliminates the single point of system failure, allowing for decentralized design and a system that is expandable from a single paging station and amplifier to a more complex paging system across several zones and multiple buildings.

About Biamp Systems
Biamp Systems is a leading provider of innovative, networked media systems that power the world's most sophisticated audio/video installations. The company is recognized worldwide for delivering high-quality products and backing each product with a commitment to exceptional customer service.

The award-wining Biamp product suite includes the Audia® Digital Audio Platform, Nexia® digital signal processors, Sona™ AEC algorithm, and Vocia® critical paging and life safety system. Each has its own specific feature set that can be customized and integrated in a wide range of applications, including corporate boardrooms, conference centers, performing arts venues, courtrooms, hospitals, transportation hubs, campuses and multi-building facilities.

Founded in 1976, Biamp is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, USA, with additional engineering operations in Brisbane, Australia. For more information on Biamp, please visit www.biamp.com.