Siemon’s Innovative Solutions Elevate Pediatric Care at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital
Founded in 1950, Miami’s Nicklaus Children’s Hospital is South Florida’s only free-standing, licensed specialty hospital offering complete health services exclusively for children. The hospital constructed a new five-story, 131,000-square-foot surgical tower that opened in 2024. The project was made possible by a $25 million gift from Citadel Founder and CEO Kenneth C. Griffin, the largest single donation in the hospital’s 72-year history. With state-of-the-art operating suites and spacious, private pre- and post-care spaces, the new Griffin Surgical Tower enables Nicklaus Children’s Hospital to prioritize patient care and improve the experience for children, families, and staff.
Over the past few decades, technology has improved healthcare at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in every way—from improved access and faster, more precise diagnosis to enhanced treatment, streamlined processes, and better patient experiences and outcomes. In today’s digital age, ongoing technological innovations allow the hospital to continually improve pediatric care. At the same time, supporting and facilitating the deployment of evolving healthcare technologies takes innovative network infrastructure solutions backed by a dedicated partner ecosystem committed to superior customer service and support.
A High-Tech Children’s Haven Built Upwards
Constructing the new Griffin Surgical Tower presented unique challenges for Nicklaus Children’s Hospital due to the lack of available space on the existing landlocked campus. They ultimately decided to construct the tower atop the existing emergency department, which required relocating the helistop pad. Despite these obstacles, the new tower’s design incorporates thoughtful features such as a unique glass sculpture in the main lobby that spans three levels, an outdoor Healing Garden Plaza, a fourth-floor outdoor terrace area, and a sixth-floor Wonder Room for children’s activities.
The new tower’s second and third floors feature multiple operating rooms equipped with augmented and virtual reality collaboration platforms, robotic surgery, and other advanced technologies that improve patient care and efficiency. Family and waiting areas offer secure Wi-Fi and entertainment, and each room allows patients and visitors to stay connected and informed through the hospital’s GetWellNetwork® service that provides email and child-safe internet access, educational information, entertainment, and information on hospital programs and services. Nicklaus Children’s has also adopted AI-enabled radiology workflow solutions for faster diagnosis and treatment and a range of patient experience technologies like dynamic lighting, video projection, soothing sounds, and even a miniature scanner to prepare children for upcoming MRI or CT procedures in a playful way.
The hospital needed a robust network to support the latest healthcare technologies in the new tower while ensuring support for future technologies to meet the evolving needs of pediatric care for decades to come. The tower’s 100-Gigabit fiber backbone infrastructure consists of 96-strand singlemode fiber cables running from two main equipment rooms to each of the eight telecom rooms, with an additional 96 strands deployed between the rooms for redundancy. Additionally, 576 strands of OM4 multimode fiber were installed in the operating rooms, bringing the total number of fiber fusion splices to 3,456.
Each floor features a 10-gigabit network using Category 6A copper cabling to provide connectivity and power to various devices. The infrastructure includes anywhere from 8 to 16 connections per room, depending on the needs of the space.
“The new tower offers significantly more advanced technology that will allow us to do more innovative procedures,” says Luis Encinosa, Director of Network Systems Information for the hospital. “We designed and built the tower to last for at least 40 years, so the network infrastructure also needs to last. That’s why we completely future-proofed with singlemode fiber, OM4 multimode fiber, and Category 6A cabling.”
An Innovative Fiber Backbone Powered by Partnership
When it came time to select the components for the surgical tower network, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital preferred to use solutions from their longstanding infrastructure solutions provider, Siemon. For over a decade, Siemon has provided the hospital with a wide range of high-performance fiber and copper connectivity and cable management solutions to support the latest healthcare technologies. Siemon’s customer service, technical support, logistics, and supply chain capabilities, backed by a dedicated distribution and certified installer partner ecosystem, were also a big plus for the hospital.
“We have received excellent service and support from Siemon over the years with quality products fully backed by their comprehensive warranty,” says Encinosa. “The tower project started in 2022 when supply chain issues caused by the Covid pandemic still lingered. The fact that Siemon manufactures their components in the US was a huge help. We didn’t have to wait for the products we needed to build the network.”
Siemon’s investment in research and development has led to innovative solutions that benefit customers. These solutions helped Nicklaus Children’s Hospital improve system performance and reduce installation costs. With over 400 patents specific to structured cabling and world-class ISO-certified manufacturing, Siemon has released over 20 new products within the past five years to fit customer needs and applications.
One of the latest Siemon innovations deployed for the fiber backbone infrastructure at the Griffin Surgical Tower is the LightVerse® High-Density Fiber Optic Cabling System. Available in 1U, 2U, or 4U, the LightVerse Pro version chosen by Nicklaus Children’s supports up to 48 duplex singlemode fiber ports in 1U with integrated front and optional rear cable managers, cable strain relief brackets, multiple cable entry points, and an integrated label holder. LightVerse is versatile and offers various options for design and installation. These options include transition modules, adapters, and splice solutions that support multiple connector types and any termination method. The hospital used LightVerse Splice Cassettes that support up to 24 fibers with pre-loaded adapters and color-coded pigtails. The cassettes can be easily installed from the front or rear of the LightVerse enclosures.
“We prefer splicing as a fiber termination method because it’s what we’re used to, and it offers better insertion loss performance,” said Yanco Milanes, Network Engineering Team Lead for Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. “We especially appreciate the innovation that went into the LightVerse system, finding the enclosures much easier to cable up. The integrated connectivity of the splice cassettes also made for a faster, easier installation.”
Nicklaus Children has long preferred Siemon’s LC BladePatch fiber jumpers for fiber connections. These jumpers feature a push-pull boot design for easy access and removal in tight spaces and a smaller diameter uni-tube cable. While the original bill of materials for the tower project called for another fiber jumper, Siemon’s logistic capabilities and long-time relationship with distributor Graybar allowed them to quickly swap them out for LC BladePatch singlemode fiber jumpers in a matter of days, causing no delays to the project.
Max Bravo, General Manager for Blue Wave Communications, the premier South Florida-based low-voltage contractor that installed the network infrastructure at the new tower, emphasized the benefits of the new LightVerse system. He also pointed to the value of the Siemon-Graybar partnership, including the commitment of Siemon’s South Florida regional sales manager, Casey Siemon, and Graybar’s account manager, Nelson Sanchez.
“The LightVerse Pro, with its high-density enclosures, flexibility, and easy access to splice cassettes, made the installation at the new tower straightforward. In fact, due to the quality of this innovation, Blue Wave has decided to incorporate LightVerse into other projects,” he said. “From the planning stages through project completion, seamless collaboration between the manufacturer, distribution, and contractor was also essential. Casey Siemon was very flexible and responsive to the dynamic needs of the project, and Nelson Sanchez played a pivotal role in Graybar managing the bill of materials, adapting to modifications throughout the project lifecycle, and providing regular updates about material availability and staging. The result was no delays caused by material shortages or miscommunications.”
An Enhanced Foundation for Healthcare Connectivity
Siemon’s legacy of customer-first innovation also delivered superior performance, ease of installation, and effective management for Griffin Surgical Tower’s copper horizontal infrastructure. To provide connectivity and power over Ethernet (PoE) to Wi-Fi access points, surveillance cameras, access control, patient entertainment, telemetry, and a range of other technologies, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital selected Siemon’s new UltraMAX™ Category 6A UTP copper connectivity system, which they found to be a seamless transition from previous Siemon copper connectivity solutions.
UltraMAX provides fast, consistent terminations for reduced installation time and multiple work area, termination, and patching options for superior flexibility. Category 6A cables terminated at UltraMAX patch panels in each telecom room run to various hospital areas. In operating rooms, nurses’ stations, patient rooms, waiting areas, and other spaces, UltraMAX hybrid outlets provide connectivity for multiple devices. These outlets support flat and angled orientation and are easily mounted from the front or rear of Siemon’s MAX faceplates.
“Over the years, we have used a variety of Siemon products, and our field crews became particularly excited about the new UltraMax system after going through Siemon’s certified installer training,” said Bravo. “They had a lot of positive feedback regarding the outlets’ simplicity of termination, smaller footprint, and flexible mounting.”
The hospital housed the UltraMAX patch panels and active equipment in Siemon’s 2-Post RS series racks to optimize cable organization, protection, and routing within the telecom rooms. These racks feature integrated RouteIT vertical cable managers with high-capacity fingers and dual hinge doors for easy access and a premium appearance. The hospital also selected Siemon’s SkinnyPatch® Category 6A UTP modular patch cords to further improve cable management. These cords feature a reduced cable diameter due to their smaller 28 AWG stranded copper construction, allowing for easier routing, space savings, and improved airflow.
“We have embraced the advantages of the smaller-diameter Siemon’s SkinnyPatch cords and used various colors to color code the applications in each telecom space so that anyone can easily identify what type of device connects to what port,” said Encinosa.
Siemon also innovated the horizontal copper infrastructure with a new cable. The hospital chose Siemon’s Category 6A Tri-Layer (TL) UTP cable. This cable has a unique multi-layer barrier design that improves heat dissipation and virtually eliminates interference. This makes it perfect for devices needing remote power (PoE) and high-speed 10 Gigabit connections, such as the hospital’s high-performance Wi-Fi 6 access points. The TL cable’s quick installation and smaller size were additional advantages.
“With the amount of technology in the new surgical tower, pathway space was a definite concern. That was the primary reason we went with Siemon’s new TL cable, but its ease of installation also makes this new cable our de facto choice moving forward,” says Encinosa.
The hospital chose to use the same TL cabling for all horizontal cabling to support integrated systems and the ability to use any cable for any application. The horizontal infrastructure ultimately comprised nearly 90 miles of Siemon’s Category 6A TL UTP cable.
A Collaborative Approach to Project Success
Siemon’s latest innovations helped improve the network infrastructure in the new Griffin Surgical Tower. The deployment was smooth due to strong partnerships based on open communication, collaboration, and a commitment to excellence.
“The quality of products, service and support we’ve received from Siemon has consistently exceeded our expectations,” said Encinosa. “That’s why Siemon has been and will continue to be our go-to standard for network infrastructure solutions. It’s a true partnership.”
Bravo of Blue Wave Communications echoed this sentiment, highlighting the collaborative nature of the partnership. He said, “Our close collaboration with Siemon and Graybar ensured a smooth, efficient, and high-quality project delivery. This synergy not only strengthened our professional relationships but also allowed us to provide Nicklaus Children’s Hospital with a future-proofed facility that reliably supports current and future advancements in medical technology—all of which means better overall quality patient experience, care, and outcomes.”
