Migrating towards a client server architecture: a successful application in a 2,200-bed general hospital

Asan Medical Center (AMC) completed a major migration process of the hospital information system from a mainframe towards an open Unix client server architecture from August of 1993 to August of 1996. Along with the east wing extension of AMC, the number of inpatient beds is greatly increased from 1,000 to 2,200 and information transaction increased from 300,000 to 700,000. A gradual departmental migration strategy with local area network connection and data conversion between the two systems were applied. The successful migration process towards a client server architecture provided improved user interface, enhanced flexibility and productivity of the system, better integration with diverse medical devices and improved networking flexibility.