Healthcare Wireless and Device Connectivity

Medical Grade Network..Optical Prediction.

I have heard this term (medical grade) tossed around for almost a decade....but what does this actually mean? Yes...can it be applied across the industry as a standard best practice? The bottom line it is about the bandwidth requirements needed by the I-Pads, Androids, and I-Phones that will require a new design for wireless. When you talk about wireless...it is not just WLAN, but 3G/4G/LTE...all working together So will it be a converged coaxial, fiber, ethernet design...? Maybe in the interim, until the industry gets there. Ethernet even Giga does not have the capacity, and copper coaxial cable is high cost. Consumerism has hit the enterprise. Just like xDSL gave way to cable, it has given way to fiber optic to the home. Look to a potential all future fiber design (as the backhaul and infrastructure) perhaps with where the WLAN/LTE intersection is converged. In regards to the convergance of an I-Pad, smart phone on the best design with a WLAN enabled medical device...this can be done today with the right network design to include security polcies and quality of service. It is not rocket science..just applying best of industry practice. However, the industry does need some common guidelines in this respect.

Healthcare and the BYOD issue - Consumer Commercialization meets the Enterprise

Yes folks, it is not BYOB! but BYOD (Bring your own device), that is causing all kinds of angst with the CIO of today. (Think security and quality of service) Physicians and others simply are not going to use what has been "traditionally" given to them by organizations. (Sorry..goodbye BlackBerry) The consumer commercialization has now reached the healthcare enterprise. It is that physicians and clinicans are going to carry their "own" I-Pad, I-Phone, and Android like tablet or device. They bought and want to use it from their home, office and the hospital. And when they have to...they want to "get on the hospital's enterprise WLAN..period. All vendors are going to have to deal with this tidalwave. Just in the past two weeks I have been approached by two major WLAN technology providers...what do you think of BYOD? How is this going to be handled in a cost effective way..see attached.

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Integra Systems and M2M

In 2010 Integra Systems, Inc. and partners designed a unique M2M prototype solution for a multi-B $ corporation. The business model was not to chase after "telemedicine"; but to develop a solution to solve "real business" problems. Something that WIFI could never solve. Saving a "roll of a not a truck...but a nurse to someones home." From a concept to working prototype was got this done in under 90 days..way under budget. Now 2012, that prototype is movong toward reality. www.digi.com and the Digi Cloud is making this happen.

IXIA and the Value Add to Medical Device QoS Testing and End Deployment in the IDN

Integra Systems, Inc. has continually seen the huge value of Veriwave and now www.ixiacom.com to provide the right V&V (validation and verification) for a FDA 510k submission as well at the end deployment model in the IDN.(Integrated Delivery Network). These discussions are not recent...but we have been following this start up since 2007. We will be authoring an article surrounding this (testing and design) for publication as well as presenting regarding this subject at an investor conference in the summer in Silicon Valley. There is definitely a lot more to the 802.11 protocol than simple network loading. (A lot of this is somewhat not understood because a wireless quality of service is not like the "wired" network quality of service experience) It is the hope that all of this education and discussion lends to more a consistent enterprise design with the ultimate goal of a higher quality and less risk adverse WLAN enabled enterprise medical device. Bottom line is to provide a higher quality "wireless" medical device experience for the patient.

Medical Grade DAS (Distributed Antenna System)

Not again..well yes.. a ten year old marketing term. Several folks out there on LinkedIn are hearing this term being tossed around, i,e "Medical Grade DAS" - Distributed Antenna System. Funny how www.cisco.com has used this term for several years to describe their "network design". What the heck does this really mean? Has the network design actually received a FDA 510k approval? What I find amusing and ironic is someone just yesterday made a comment on LinkedIn. "First a medical grade DAS was marketed as "passive", now it is marketed as "active", what a hypocrisy" He is right in so many ways. Actually I have seen these so called "passive" designs actually had "active high powered remote units" tucked away in closets to power them! So what a client was sold as a passive design (as more quote "safe"), actually was a hybrid/passive/active..in fact that actually what any DAS is. Suggest that any CIO of any healthcare entity that installs what is now again marketed as a "medical grade DAS", put into contract that the integrator and/or supplier of the technology assume "all" legal liability if a "medical device" is a part of this "distributed antenna system design".

Sotera Wireless Initial FDA and CE Approval

Congrats on the recent approval of both a FDA 510k and the CE Mark. I have worked with what I consider this band of brothers on this project to a limited extent and I consider this a huge milestone as Gunnar has said. All of these folks have done a tremendous job pulling this off and hats off especially to Jim Moon and his team. While this does not include the "wireless" component it however does lay the foundation for the entire solution and system as a whole. What I find interesting is that this (new patient monitoring business model) is like the "ProPaQ" of then Protocol Systems (now Welch Allyn) potentially all over again. Totally disruptive. I remember back in the 80's selling the ProPaQ as a OEM to Siemens. Demo was simply...throw it down a flight of stairs.."while on'! It still worked. Then I asked the customer to tell HP to throw the Merlin down the stairs (that was the only patient monitor that they had at that time..not portable). What I find ironic is why Philips (even with their new product) and General Electric are not going down this path? Both still (GE and Philips) are still clinging to WMTS, while Welch Allyn, Draeger, and now Sotera are moving forward down the 802.11 pathway. Little companies tend to innovate and can be disruptive...while big companies..well. It is simply when you are the market leader like Philips Medical Systems, you sell by little by little piecemeal upgrades to keep your installed base...nothing revolutionary...just evolutionary. You do not want anything revolutionary because that might open the door for competition! That from my experience has been the HP way (which is now Philips). What I do not get is how Philips "portable monitoring" is sold and marketed via 802.11 infrastructure,(802.11a or 802.11g) while "patient worn" monitoring (like Sotera Wireless) is promoted using either 1.4GHZ WMTS or 2.4GHZ (DECT). (all very, very proprietary). I have no doubt with Jim Moom, Jim Welch and Gunnar, experienced folks from Spacelabs, Protocol Systems, Welch Allyn, Draeger, they will hit the market with great success. There are numerous other features of the Sotera Wireless product that I could discuss..but that is for another blog. There definitely is enough disruptive value in their offering to disrupt the evolutionary commoditization of the current patient monitoring marketplace. So GE and Philips...why are they NOT doing something like this? I feel I can speak with authority as I have 30 years of experience in this space both from sales, clinical, biomedical, technical, and IT. No doubt when Gunnar and Gary go to shows from now on..they perhaps no longer have to have that pesky sign put up that says "pending FDA approval"!

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Landscape of the WLAN Marketplace Strategic

This article definitely defines in a real sense of where we are in 2012 in this space. It helps set the overall as stated landscape from a business perspective. As the WLAN has become a commditized space; each healthcare end user needs to evaluate several areas: This includes but is not limited to how the WLAN technology meets and exceeds user expectations, but also the CAPEX. OPEX, and TCO. External or internal...will the integration entity meet and exceed these business goals? We can help vet out those integration partners that will meet and exceed the right business requirements as well as provide the right technology and financial model.

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