Pharmakon is both a conference center and a training and development facility. “Pharma” signals education and professional development for those who work in medicine and healthcare. The focus is on quality and medicinal safety. "Kon" refers to Pharmakon's conference center, which is for everyone – including those who are not involved in medicine. Pharmakon's profits go to research projects relating to the safe and effective use of medication.

Written December 2017

In other words, Pharmakon is both a modern conference center and an internationally recognized training and development center for the pharmaceutical and medicinal fields. Guests contribute to research focusing on citizens in Denmark getting better, safer and more efficient ways of using their medicines. Pharmakon is based in Hilleroed, north of Copenhagen.

The conference center was developed with a keen eye on every detail in terms of decor, dining options, and surroundings. The center has modern classrooms, meeting and group rooms and cosy living facilities. IT technology has been implemented throughout the center with free Wi-Fi in all teaching facilities and guest rooms.

Pharmakon was about to renew its current Wi-Fi solution, so Danoffice IT was invited to a meeting to present the new possibilities that an Aruba Wi-Fi solution could provide for Pharmakon.

Since Pharmakon had just attended a Hewlett Packard Enterprise event around Aruba and found Aruba's location technology interesting, Danoffice IT based its presentation on a specific customer case: the recent American Football final, Super Bowl 50, where a large Aruba installation with 10,000 access points provided network services to 70,000 spectators. Combining Aruba's various solutions created a unique user experience, including an Aruba app that provided indoor navigation. Through the app, visitors could easily navigate and find each other throughout the stadium, get an overview of toilet queues, find out where stalls were located, order meals and have them brought directly to their seat or box, see video and replays from the game, explore plays from new camera angles, employ slow motion and much more.

Many of the same technologies have been used to create new, better opportunities at Pharmakon, through Aruba's solutions, thereby ensuring even better reviews and attracting even more students and companies.

So, choosing an Aruba solution can open for plenty of new potential business opportunities - it is more than “just” offering Wi-Fi access to the network.

Danoffice IT focused on replacing the existing Wi-Fi solution so that Pharmakon got a new Wi-Fi platform that enables high-level service provision to all its current customers and users. Furthermore, the solution incorporated solving connectivity issues for areas where the existing network struggled - based on existing cables and wires, as Pharmakon had stated that pulling new cables would be too costly.

Pharmakon’s new system uses Aruba's Wi-Fi controller solution that has been developed with a focus on security. Therefore, the controller has a firewall that allows differentiating users, traffic and applications. This provides unique opportunities to provide differentiated and targeted services. The firewall functionality is a license-based feature.

Pharmakon's existing solution works with open SSID (as simple as possible). The organization has been pleased with its performance, which is why Danoffice IT’s solution was based on the standard features in the Aruba Wi-Fi controller, which match the setup of the existing Wi-Fi solution

Features:

• Wi-Fi controllers in a High Availability-setup
• Automatic firmware and configuration rollout for connected access points
• Simple guest network with open guest SSID

Pharmakon had good coverage in its facilities with the existing Wi-Fi solution. The new solution is primarily based on removing old access points and putting up the new ones in the same locations. A further benefit is that existing cables and wiring could be re-used. Previously, there were coverage challenges in certain areas, for example, with the furthest wings of hotel rooms, some common areas, in specific hallways and the basement. All the potential issues were envisaged and solved as part of Pharmakon's new solution with a focus on minimizing expensive cables while maintaining coverage.

Pharmakon has approximately 120 permanent employees with very different professional backgrounds, 80% of whom are women.

About one-third of the employees are affiliated with the company’s conference center, and more than half of employees working on areas have a background in the pharmaceutical and healthcare fields.

Pharmakon is a listed company with a share capital of DKK 20 million. They are owned by Apoktekerforeningen (the Danish Pharmacists' Association).

Read more about Pharmakon.