East Kent hospital’s university foundation trust has announced that it will head a partnership that oversees four trusts buying picture and archiving software from one supplier, according to Sade Laja at The Guardian in the UK.
The group has bid £50m for picture archiving and communications systems, radiology information systems and vendor-neutral archiving software, including related hardware and managed services, according to Laja’s story.
East Kent hospitals university foundation will lead the search for a managed services provider (MSP) for the four trusts to run and manage the software. MSPs take responsibility for all network-based services, applications, and equipment, which can include, but are not limited to advanced features like IP telephony, messaging and call center, virtual private network, managed firewalls, and monitoring/reporting of network servers.
In this case, the foundation will choose a supplier to run and host domain-based systems required for data sharing, including the acquisition and management of picture software to be purchased by the group, Laja writes.
East Kent is procuring the software on behalf of itself and three other trusts: Dartford and Gravesham, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells, and Medway foundation trust, according to the story.
What lures companies to MSPs is that few companies “can build an effective in-house network and fewer still have the network security resources to constantly monitor them as well as anticipate and eliminate problems before they escalate,” according to a press release at news.yahoo.com. By outsourcing network management, companies can feel assured that everything will run properly.
According to the notice, the four trusts placed in the Official Journal of the European Union, they have “established the Kent and Medway Pacs Ris replacement programme to deliver a ‘collaborative and integrated solution’. The Kent Health Informations Service will assist the trusts with the procurement.
The MSP will have to locally host the software for some of the trusts, while running it as a managed service for others, according to the story.
Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO East 2012, taking place Jan. 31-Feb. 3 2012, in Miami, FL. ITEXPO offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities.
Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO. Follow us on Twitter.
Deborah DiSesa Hirsch is an award-winning health and technology writer who has worked for newspapers, magazines and IBM in her 20-year career. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Rich Steeves
