Building a secure IT environment at Asahi General Hospital

With 989 beds, 40 medical departments, and a staff of 2,205 (including 287 physicians), it provides high-quality healthcare to a broad regional population. Upholding the core philosophy of “Everything is for the patients,” the hospital continuously strives to maintain and improve a safe medical environment. Its medical systems are operated with the minimum goal of ensuring integrity 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Asahi General Hospital plays a central role in regional healthcare, serving as a core hospital for five major diseases and four key healthcare initiatives. It provides high-quality medical services, including advanced treatments, and serves as a critical facility during disasters. Naturally, its IT systems require secure and stable operations. In 2019, alongside the renewal of its electronic medical record (EMR) system, the hospital introduced a VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) environment using Omnissa Horizon and adopted Workspace ONE for managing IT devices. By virtualizing client desktops and implementing an optimal MDM (Mobile Device Management) solution, the hospital has built a secure and user-friendly work environment for delivering medical services.

Considering VDI implementation to promote device usage

Founded in 1953, Asahi General Hospital is a large-scale regional medical support hospital with 989 beds on a vast 190,038 m² campus. It serves residents in northeastern Chiba and southeastern Ibaraki with 40 medical departments and 2,170 staff (as of January 2025). Guided by the principle “Everything is for the patient,” the hospital strives to maintain a safe medical environment and ensures 24/7 system integrity. The hospital’s IT infrastructure faced challenges typical of large institutions: systems operated independently by different vendors, inconsistent recovery processes during failures, and fragmented security measures. Patch management was unclear, and rising hardware costs demanded efficient resource use. To address these issues, the hospital’s Medical Information Office began consolidating systems on a virtual platform, enabling centralized and real-time management while meeting high security standards. This consolidation led to the consideration of VDI solutions to streamline device management and promote device utilization. Mr. Nobuhide Mr.Kanaya, Medical Information Technologist, explains the background. Mr. Tadashi Akaba, also involved from the beginning, recalls that complaints from staff about device shortages and usability issues further motivated the VDI project.

“Our hospital system consolidates patient information, and any system downtime directly impacts the quality of care. That’s why stable, 24/7/365 operation is absolutely essential. Managing systems, networks, and devices at a hospital of this scale is an extremely challenging mission. In 2017, we replaced departmental systems and network equipment, consolidating our hospital systems onto a virtual infrastructure. As the next step, we began implementing VDI and overhauling device management.” — Mr. Kanaya

“Although we thought we had enough devices, nurses reported shortages. For example, when a doctor left their desk mid-charting, the device couldn’t be used by others without losing data. VDI allows switching users mid-session, making better use of existing devices. We began considering VDI with the EMR system renewal in 2019.” — Mr. Akaba

The hospital also faced mismatches in update timing between hardware and software, increasing management burden and costs.

“Hospital networks, traditionally closed HIS environments, made it difficult to deploy or update apps. Virtualizing the client OS allows continued use of apps even with hardware changes. This solves many issues.” — Mr. Kanaya

To improve operations with new apps, new devices were often required, complicating management and raising security concerns. A refreshed MDM system was needed to allow multiple apps on a single device.

Adopting Horizon and Workspace ONE for a secure and efficient environment

The hospital launched a project to implement VDI and MDM solutions. After comparing multiple products, they selected Omnissa Horizon for VDI and Omnissa Workspace ONE for MDM.

“Horizon was compatible with our virtualization platform and came with Omnissa’s professional services. We also needed mobile access to EMR and apps from anywhere,and Workspace ONE offered fine-grained device control and strong compatibility with Horizon.” — Mr.Akaba

The hospital manages over 1,000 iOS devices, including 650 iPhones for doctors and nurses and 400 iPad Pros for physicians. Ms. Chiemi Hayashi, Medical Information Technologist, highlights Workspace ONE’s compatibility with iOS as a key factor.

“Among MDM products, Workspace ONE stood out for its extensive iOS configuration options. Our previous MDM with Android required manual setup on each device, increasing workload and security risks. Switching to iPhones and Workspace ONE improved usability and security.” — Ms. Hayashi

Few medical institutions use a single device for multiple apps and services, making reference cases rare. Omnissa’s professional services were crucial.

“Whenever we asked for help, they responded quickly and accurately. Without their support, we might not have succeeded.” — Mr.Akaba

Mr.Kanaya also praises the professional services: “Medical software requires customization and frequent updates. We must avoid disruptions due to app or OS changes. Omnissa’s technical support helped us apply changes quickly to Horizon and Workspace ONE.”

Efficient and secure device management

With support from Omnissa’s professional services, VDI and device management were successfully implemented. Horizon was released alongside the new EMR system in December 2019, with a six-month pilot beforehand to ensure smooth transition. VDI brought major improvements: staff can log in with ID cards and resume work from any device, resolving device shortages. Even if a device is in use, users can instantly switch to their virtual desktop. Doctors can now access EMRs and test results remotely via iOS devices, improving information sharing and medical service quality. Workspace ONE was deployed simultaneously, enabling efficient management of over 1,000 iOS devices.

“Previously, 9 out of 10 settings had to be done manually on each device. Now, almost all settings can be configured via MDM. Setup time per device dropped from 1 hour to about 30 minutes. We no longer need to collect devices for updates or app distribution.” — Ms. Hayashi

Security was also enhanced. Workspace ONE enables location tracking and remote locking for lost devices, reducing stress for doctors using devices outside the hospital.

Managed via Workspace ONE and Apple’s ADE, the hospital’s iOS devices support internal calls, chat, identity verification, Safari, nurse call, EMR mobile apps, Horizon client, voice recognition, vital sign integration, and internal web apps—all on a single device.

“Doctors and nurses no longer need to switch between multiple devices. This is a major operational improvement.” — Mr.Kanaya

Building the ideal IT environment for healthcare

Based on the success of this project, Asahi General Hospital plans to continue enhancing system availability and security. Mr. Kanaya shares his expectations:

“Horizon and Workspace ONE gave us secure flexibility and device consolidation. We aim to reduce admin burden further and are considering Workspace ONE Assist for remote support. We hope Omnissa continues evolving its products with user-centric innovation.” 

Mr. Akaba adds:

“With limited IT personnel, we need intuitive interfaces that allow nonexperts to manage systems and settings. We look forward to secure, innovative solutions.”

Mr.Kanaya concludes with advice for IT professionals in healthcare:

“Understand your systems and collaborate with vendors. Without understanding, you risk making unrealistic demands. Build a foundation to evaluate proposals and co-create ideal systems.”