BridgeHead Software, a leader in healthcare data management, has announced a partnership with Oblak, the specialist cloud and IT services provider and EMC, the data storage specialist. Together the three companies will offer hospitals in Bulgaria and, in the near term, the rest of the Balkans, an alternative option to expensive PACS storage upgrades by assisting with the long-term storage, protection and sharing of radiology images - all in the cloud.
Built on EMC's Isilon storage platform, Oblak will now provide BridgeHead’s HealthStore™, the first truly Independent Clinical Archive (ICA) - also referred to as a next generation vendor neutral archive (VNA) - to the Bulgarian healthcare market. BridgeHead's HealthStore offers a single software environment where hospitals can store and protect all of their radiology images as well as other clinical and non-clinical data from across the healthcare enterprise and make it available, through sharing, to those that need it, when they need it, at the point of care.
"EMC and BridgeHead Software are already working together in a number of key healthcare accounts in EMEA," said Wolfgang Mertz, CTO Office, EMC Isilon. "Our partnership has again proven successful in the form of our joint solution with Bulgarian company Oblak. This configuration of EMC's advanced storage platform, Isilon, together with BridgeHead's leading independent clinical archive, HealthStore™, and the extensive cloud hosting and services offered by Oblak, is set to offer a total data management solution across the Bulgarian healthcare market and that of its neighbouring countries."
"In Bulgaria, one of the biggest expenditures for a hospital is upgrading the PACS system; procurement cycles are arduous and time consuming," said Dimo Simeonov, Chief Executive Officer at Oblak. "By transferring the data into BridgeHead’s HealthStore, rather than upgrading the storage capacity of the PACS system, a hospital no longer needs to undertake lengthy procurement processes as the cost of the VNA is significantly under the threshold. Therefore, this cloud alternative offers significant financial benefits and also saves precious time for the hospital, which in turn improves patient care. For example, the radiology department no longer needs to train its staff on how to use and maintain the system, it is now fully hosted and managed on their behalf so more attention is put back into frontline services."
"We are delighted to partner with Oblak and EMC in Bulgaria, as this is an exciting and important new geographic opportunity for us," said Andrew Carr, Director of Alliances - EMEA at BridgeHead Software. "Hospitals realise that it is too costly to keep pushing the storage limits of their PACS system, and it is no longer viable, or indeed necessary, to store their data on expensive primary storage. Utilising BridgeHead's VNA in the Oblak cloud environment, the hospital can store any data - from medical images and clinical reports through to scanned patient records - and have it instantly available at the time of need."
About BridgeHead Software
With 20 years' experience in data and storage management, BridgeHead Software is trusted by over 1,200 hospitals worldwide. Today, BridgeHead helps healthcare facilities overcome challenges stemming from rising data volumes and increasing storage costs while delivering peace of mind around how to store, protect and share clinical and administrative information.
BridgeHead's Healthcare Data Management (HDM) solutions are designed to work with any hospital’s chosen applications and storage hardware, regardless of vendor, providing greater choice, flexibility and control over the way data is managed, now and in the future.
About EMC
EMC Corporation is a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service. Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing. Through innovative products and services, EMC accelerates the journey to cloud computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyze their most valuable asset - information - in a more agile, trusted and cost-efficient way.