Like many small businesses, Vitreoretinal Associates looks straightforward to the casual observer: six physicians working hard to deliver excellent services in the area of vision health. But when you open the hood, you see layers and layers of sophistication in terms of skills, processes, and technology. “We are six retina surgeons and a large, highly skilled support staff,” explains Charles Birnbach, MD, a partner in the practice. “We use highly sophisticated diagnostic and treatment tools, and we face competition from both larger players such as hospitals and smaller, one-physician practices. We work hard to deliver high-quality care that’s convenient to the patient.” Not surprisingly, the information technology that knits Vitreoretinal Associates together is critical. “We have all of the usual PC and server technologies of a small business,” says Birnbach. “But in addition, our diagnostic tools are digi-tally networked, and all of our viewing of the output of those tools happens on our PCs. So from end to end, we’re depen-dent on reliable IT to deliver excellent patient experiences.”

To make sure their IT is reliable, Vitreoretinal Associates relies on managed IT services from Arterian, a leading IT services provider in the Seattle area. Arterian provides complete managed IT services that give small and mid-size companies more effective IT functions while lowering their overall IT cost. Serving as their customers’ IT department is Arterian’s standard approach. “In a nutshell, we run your IT so that you can run your business,” say Jamison West, CEO of Arterian. “We take owner-ship of your day-to-day server and PC management and assume full responsibility for making sure everything runs smoothly. As a result, you can focus on growing your business.” According to Birnbach, Arterian’s approach is a strong complement to Vitreoretinal Associates’ business model. “We focus on mini-mizing the stress experienced by our patients,” he explains. “Arterian takes the same approach. They have a deep bench that can take care of any problem, and they work hard to be customer-oriented.”

Using Advanced Tools To Minimize IT Issues and Increase Business Focus One of the key elements of Arterian’s managed services is their ability to comprehensively monitor and manage their customers’ IT infrastructure remotely, thus reducing costly service visits. They do this by using advanced management software combined with HP desktop and laptop PCs based on Intel® vPro™ technology.1,2 Arterian’s Intel vPro technology-based solution is bringing a number of significant advantages to Vitreoretinal Associates that make their IT transparent so they can focus on their business:

Arterian Helps Businesses Focus on Business Rather than ITComplete managed IT services using advanced tools including PCs based on Intel® vPro™ technology reduce downtime, increase productivity, and lower cost

Greater reliability and faster problem resolution that cuts PC downtime by 50 percent. Arterian minimizes downtime by using the advances of Intel vPro technology to monitor and manage Vitreoretinal Associates’ PCs around-the-clock, 7 days a week, even if the PCs are off or their operating system is disabled. This allows Arterian to proactively watch for many developing issues and intervene before they negatively impact the PC user’s workflow (or the entire business). When problems do arise, they can often be corrected remotely, without the cost and delay of a field service visit and without interrupting the PC user. “vPro-based PCs allow us to cut PC downtime by 50%,3 which has a very positive impact on our clients’ productivity,” says West. This is especially true in the case of remote branch offices which may be hours away. “Using vPro-based PCs to reduce downtime and speed repairs is fundamental to how we get IT ‘out of the way’ so that our clients can focus on business,” notes West.

“ Arterian understands the critical role technology plays in our practice. They show us how to maximize our current technology and map out intelligent IT investments such as vPro-based PCs.”

Charles Birnbach, MD, Partner, Vitreoretinal Associates

Proactive security that protects Vitreoretinal Associates’ critical business data. In the highly regulated healthcare market, patient data security is a paramount concern for Vitreoretinal Associates, and Intel vPro technology enables Arterian to pro-actively protect the company. Arterian can constantly monitor PCs based on Intel vPro technology to ensure that critical security software is in place and up-to-date, without bothering the PC user. Regular security patches and updates can be done automatically after hours, even to PCs that are turned off—which means fewer interruptions for security patches and better protection.

Active and passive power management capabilities that reduce energy costs by $140 per PC per year. With the ability to turn off groups of PCs after hours and then power them back up before the start of the next business day, Arterian can save their customers money through lower energy usage, making a substantial positive impact on their ROI. “We estimate that a vPro-based PC replacing an older PC saves $140 per year3 —and that’s for every PC,” says West. To Birnbach, this is a significant cost reduction. “We have over 100 computers,” he says, “and as we replace systems over time, the energy cost savings from vPro-based PCs is very attractive.”

Systems that protect Vitreoretinal Associates’ IT investments and help them spend smarter. The performance and energy efficiency of HP desktop and laptop PCs based on Intel® Core™ vPro™ processors give Arterian’s clients the horsepower they need for demanding business applications—both today and as their applications change and grow over time. These PCs run business productivity applications faster and accelerate multitasking—all while delivering excellent energy efficiency. This performance means that Vitreoretinal Associates will be ready for tomorrow’s improved applications, including multi-tasking applications, demanding diagnostic visualization, and collaborative tools.

1 Intel® vPro™ Technology is sophisticated and requires setup and activation. Availability of features and results will depend upon the setup and configuration of your hardware, software and IT environment. To learn more visit: http://www.intel.com/technology/vpro. 2PCs with Intel® vPro™ processor technology include Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT). Intel® Active Management Technology requires the computer system to have an Intel® AMT-enabled chipset, network hardware and software, as well as connection with a power source and a corporate network connection. Setup requires configuration by the purchaser and may require scripting with the management console or further integration into existing security frameworks to enable certain functional-ity. It may also require modifications of implementation of new business processes. For more information, see http://www.intel.com/technology/manage/iamt/. 3Source: Arterian based on field testing performed during September 2011. INTEL MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT. This document is for informational purposes only. Copyright © 2011 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Core, and Intel vPro are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. * Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Printed in the USA 1211/ET/OCG/XX/PDF Please Recycle 326519-001US

What is Intel® vPro™ technology?• Hardware-based capabilities that allow secure,

remote access to desktop and mobile PCs virtually any time for maintenance, updates, and upgrades, and for diagnostics, repair, and remediation – even if the PC power is off, the operating system is unresponsive, management agents are missing, or hardware (such as a hard drive) has failed.1

• Industry-leading performance through the Intel® Core™ i5 vPro™ processor and the Intel Core i7 vPro processor, which are optimized for multitasking and next-generation software so that virus scans and other tasks can run in the background without bogging down user applications in the foreground.

• Impressive energy efficiency and energy manage-ment delivering lower power consumption and cost.

A True Partnership that Delivers Business FocusFor Charles Birnbach and Vitreoretinal Associates, managed services from Arterian are a key to their business success. “Arterian has been a strategic partner over the years and has enabled our growth from one physician to six,” says Birnbach, “and we depend on them day to day. They understand the critical role technology plays in our practice. They show us how to maximize our current technology and map out intelligent IT investments such as vPro-based PCs.” Jamison West sees Arterian’s work with Vitreoretinal Associates as a perfect example of what they do for their small and mid-sized business clients. “We come to work every day to help clients use technology effectively to improve productivity and accelerate business growth,” he says. “Seeing that bear fruit in partnerships like the one we have with Vitreoretinal Associates is extremely gratifying.”

For More InformationFor more information on Vitreoretinal Associates, visit www.vrawashington.com.

For more information on Arterian, visit www.arterian.com.

For more information on the benefits of Intel vPro technology for small and mid-sized businesses, visit msp.intel.com.

“ In a nutshell, we run your IT so that you can run your business. We take ownership of your day-to-day server and PC management and assume full responsibility for making sure everything runs smoothly. As a result, you can focus on growing your business.”

Jamison West, CEO, Arterian