REDMOND, Wash., April 5, 2004 — iSOFT Group plc, the United Kingdom’s largest healthcare IT supplier, and Microsoft Corp. have signed an agreement through which they will work jointly toward the enhancement of iSOFT’s next-generation healthcare application, LORENZO . A substantial part of the agreement involves the provision by Microsoft of support to iSOFT to specifically package its solutions for delivery by third-party service organizations on a national scale.
The agreement affirms Microsoft’s long-running commitment to the provision of advanced information systems to healthcare professionals and organizations worldwide. As a result of the agreement, Microsoft is committing resources globally to enhance the development of LORENZO , to allow it to be more easily deployed by third-party distributors, and to further enhance its flexibility and scalability.
Commenting on the agreement, Sanjay Parthasarathy, corporate vice president for the Platform Strategy and Partner Group at Microsoft, said, “This alliance highlights Microsoft’s commitment to its industry partners and to ensuring that they have the tools needed to develop and distribute interconnected, more easily managed applications. Using Microsoft®
.NET technologies, partners such as iSOFT can create solutions that integrate with customer’s existing applications and offer a rich user experience. We place enormous importance on our relationships with industry partners like iSOFT, as they bring sector-specific knowledge and expertise to the healthcare industry, and give greater depth to what our platform can offer.”
The combination of Microsoft’s platform and .NET technologies enable a high degree of software integration and interoperability through the use of security-enhanced, standards-based Web services. Through the deployment of the .NET Framework and use of Microsoft’s smart-client development tools, the platform also provides users with rich, intuitive access to information within both connected and offline scenarios on multiple device types. As a result, the platform is perfectly suited to the complex networks of disparate systems and devices serving organizations within healthcare communities.
Commenting on the use of technology, Patrick Cryne, executive chairman of iSOFT, said, “Our goal has always been to leverage the best technologies available to deliver innovative and intuitive information systems to all those with a right and a need to know, including the citizen as a consumer of healthcare services. This agreement extends our ability to harness leading-edge technologies and offer applications to our partners that can be deployed across modern healthcare communities with ease.”
According to Steve Shihadeh, general manager of Microsoft’s healthcare business worldwide, “iSOFT and Microsoft share a common vision of how enterprise information systems should evolve to support the complex needs of healthcare organizations today. Using proven Microsoft technology, we are able to offer cost-efficient solutions that increase productivity and enable healthcare workers to make more-informed decisions, ultimately improving both organizational management and individual patient care.”
iSOFT has demonstrated strong growth, both through organic new business and strategic acquisitions. It is a major supplier in the hospital systems segment in each of the territories it has targeted. Since 1998, it has offered its solutions on end-to-end Microsoft technology. Its latest innovation, LORENZO , is built on its Service Oriented Architecture using Microsoft .NET technologies, allowing iSOFT’s LSP partners the scalability and flexibility to deliver comprehensive solutions that seamlessly fit the requirements of modern procurements.
The increased scale of deployments in modern healthcare economies has further necessitated the delivery of “in the box” industrial-strength applications to support healthcare delivery. The agreement with Microsoft will extend iSOFT’s ability to achieve increased scalability to meet the needs of national deployments.
About iSOFT
iSOFT is a U.K.-based software applications company — dedicated to healthcare, and proud to be at the very forefront of the new revolution in healthcare information management. iSOFT product development is characterized by an understanding of our markets and an innovative spirit that ensures our customers keep pace with technological advances and service initiatives. The Company’s applications are currently installed in the U.K., Australia, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Singapore, China and New Zealand.
Further information on iSOFT and its products can be found at http://www.isoftplc.com/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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