A New Tech Benchmark in Tibet: The First All-Optical Hospital on the Snowy Plateau

Baqen County, located in Nagqu City, Tibet Autonomous Region, sits on the upper reaches of the Nu River and the southern foothills of the Tanggula Mountains. With an average altitude exceeding 4,500 meters, it stands among one of China's highest prefecture-level cities by elevation. The region is characterized by extreme cold, thin air, and harsh natural conditions that pose severe challenges to daily life and medical services for local residents. As Baqen County serves as a crucial link between Nagqu and Qamdo and between parts of Tibet and Qinghai, improving its infrastructure, particularly medical facilities, is vital for regional development and public well-being.

The People's Hospital of Baqen County is the only comprehensive hospital in the area, shouldering the critical responsibility of providing medical services for approximately 56,000 permanent residents and a large floating population. However, prior to 2024, outdated and inadequate network facilities became an invisible shackle, severely constraining the efficiency and quality of healthcare delivery and hindering its ability to meet modern diagnostic and treatment demands. A transformation was urgently needed.

The Past Predicament: "No Usable Network" Hindering Lifesaving Efforts

Before the deployment of the all-optical network, the network situation in the old campus of the People's Hospital of Baqen County was dire. Significant blind spots in network coverage existed within the hospital premises, with only a very few departments having network access. Even in covered areas, issues of low bandwidth and unstable speeds were prominent, frequently causing disruptions in basic processes like payment processing, medical insurance settlements, and document printing. This led to excessively long waiting times for patients and dissatisfaction among both patients and healthcare providers.

More critically, the aging network equipment suffered from frequent failures, and maintenance responses were slow. During critical moments requiring emergency treatment, such as multi-departmental urgent consultations or impromptu medical meetings, the lack of a reliable network made efficient remote communication impossible. Medical staff often had to resort to the most traditional method—spreading messages on foot, racing against time across the high-altitude terrain to save precious moments for rescue operations. The lag in network connectivity directly impacted medical safety and life-saving efforts.

The Solution: Building a "Lifeline Skyroad" with All-Optical Network Technology

To thoroughly address this critical challenge, in 2024, during the construction of the new campus of the People's Hospital of Baqen County, Nagqu Unicom and ZTE collaborated closely to innovatively introduce the industry-leading FTTR-B All-Optical Campus Network solution. The goal was to create the first high-altitude all-optical hospital on the snowy plateau, setting a new benchmark in healthcare.

The FTTR-B solution extends optical fiber directly to every ward, operating room, imaging reading room, and office area, achieving seamless, comprehensive coverage for both wired and wireless Wi-Fi networks throughout the hospital. Optical fiber inherently offers advantages such as vast bandwidth, strong anti-interference capabilities, and long transmission distances, laying a solid physical foundation for a high-speed, stable network experience.

Following deployment, tasks like retrieving high-definition medical images and handling electronic medical records became fluid for doctors, significantly enhancing diagnostic and treatment efficiency. Patients and their families can now smoothly access the network within the hospital premises, conveniently complete medical procedures, and even make video calls while waiting, alleviating anxiety in an unfamiliar environment.

The Technological Core: A Simplified, Intelligent, and Secure Network Engine

At the heart of this construction is the industry-leading, high-capacity, fully converged FTTR-B main gateway provided by ZTE. A standout feature is its highly integrated design, which consolidates six functions into one unit: router, switch, firewall, optical line terminal (OLT), wireless access controller (AC), and internet protocol private branch exchange (IP-PBX).

This "six-in-one" design delivers multiple benefits:

• Simplified Architecture: Just two main gateways can separately handle both the hospital's internal network (for dedicated medical systems like HIS, PACS) and external network (for internet access) services. This ensures effective network isolation, safeguarding critical medical data security while dramatically reducing equipment footprint and cable complexity.
• High Capacity: A single main gateway supports high-concurrency access for up to 1,200 terminals, laying a solid foundation for the future introduction of more IoT devices and mobile medical terminals,  supporting the hospital's long-term digital and intelligent transformation.
• Energy Efficiency: The high level of integration eliminates the need for numerous separate chassis, boards, and power modules, leading to significantly lower overall energy consumption compared to traditional networking solutions, aligning with green construction principles.

The network adopts a flat, two-tier architecture of "main gateway + subordinate gateways," simplifying the network hierarchy, reducing potential failure points, decreasing transmission latency, and enhancing reliability. Furthermore, the ZENIC ONE intelligent campus network management system from ZTE supports automatic device activation and service provisioning, along with intelligent network analysis and fault diagnosis capabilities. This greatly simplifies operational maintenance, ensuring stable, 24/7 network operation.

A Paradigm Shift from "Medical Aid to Tibet" to "Technology-Driven Tibet Development"

The completion of the all-optical network at the People's Hospital of Baqen County goes far beyond a simple IT upgrade—it directly enhances both the patient experience and the diagnostic efficiency of medical staff, addressing the pressing issue of "difficult access to healthcare." More importantly, it enables high-quality remote medical consultations to become routine, successfully bringing high-quality medical resources from thousands of miles away to the plateau, effectively improving local medical service standards and providing the plateau’s residents with a more reliable "medical backbone."

This project also sets a successful example for "technology-assisted Tibet." It transcends traditional aid based solely on funds and materials. By introducing cutting-edge technology and building advanced infrastructure, it enhances the endogenous development capacity of the assisted area, facilitating a crucial shift from "blood transfusion" to "blood generation." This model offers significant reference value for infrastructure construction in Tibet and other remote regions.

With the opening of National Highway 317, Baqen County's connectivity is increasingly strengthened. The all-optical hospital, as a key piece of modern infrastructure, not only improves local quality of life but also injects new vitality into regional development. Looking ahead, this all-optical network provides a solid foundation for expanding areas like telemedicine, integrated medical community informatization, and health big data applications, continuously empowering the healthcare sector on the snowy plateau.

The establishment of the all-optical hospital in Baqen County, at an average altitude of 4,500 meters, is a "lifeline skyroad" paved with technology. It vividly demonstrates how "digital economy pathfinders" can use innovative technological solutions to bridge geographical divides, empower various industries, and bring the fruits of development and the warmth of technology to every household. This hospital not only fortifies the health defenses of the plateau’s residents but also illuminates the path forward for remote areas advancing towards modernization through digitalization.