Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG; AEX: PHIA) today announced the introduction of a secure data recovery service, built in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), that rapidly captures and backs up an entire healthcare organization's data repository in the cloud. Specifically tailored to meet the needs of medical data backup, Philips’ new storage service helps healthcare enterprises to further secure patient-critical information against local data loss events, ranging from equipment failure to catastrophic events such as earthquake, fire and flood. With this new storage solution, Philips and AWS continue to strengthen their collaboration to deliver innovative solutions that accelerate the industry's transformation toward a more connected, value-based, patient-centered care model.
Due to the increased use of medical imaging and the emerging use of digital pathology and genomics in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, healthcare organizations need to store and backup ever-increasing amounts of data. A typical hospital's data repository can easily exceed hundreds of terabytes to petabytes and is often fragmented across the facility, making the transfer of data to remote back-up services, even via high-speed leased-line broadband connections, prohibitively time consuming and expensive. Because of these limitations, many healthcare organizations currently rely on local backup servers directly connected to their internal network that do not guarantee recoverability of the data in the event of a catastrophic failure.
Philips' new hybrid storage solution combines the company’s expertise in medical data management with AWS' petabyte-scale data transport service, AWS Import/Export Snowball, to integrate, manage, encrypt and transfer a hospital's entire data repository to the cloud within days, rather than the weeks or months it would take via a wired network. Using the Philips data recovery service, a hospital organization's IT department simply plugs an AWS Import/Export Snowball device into its network, invokes the appropriate security features, and transfers the required data to the unit. The device is then physically shipped back and the data transferred to Philips' HealthSuite digital platform, an open cloud-based platform that allows the creation of the next generation of connected health and clinical IT innovations.
Vendor neutral in terms of the type, format and source of the data, the Philips solution manages security, identity and access, auditing, logging and traceability associated with medical data backup. The goal is to deliver a service that would meet the requirements of the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) by the second half of 2016.
In addition to meeting one-time backup requirements, Philips' HealthSuite data recovery storage service is designed to assist in meeting the ongoing backup needs of healthcare IT departments. One or more of AWS' 50 terabyte data transport devices will remain on-site to provide a local backup, from which all or parts of the data can be quickly recovered. Philips HealthSuite digital platform will provide users with the option of adding powerful data analytics, such as population studies, and sophisticated reporting features. It will also offer them the ability to transfer files to or from the cloud via a secure Philips network connection.
"Due to the nature of their data, many healthcare organizations have understandably in the past adopted in-house solutions, but the explosion in the amount of data they now need to secure, together with new regulatory requirements, mean that they need to adopt a different approach," said Dale Wiggins, General Manager HealthSuite digital platform, Philips. "By working together with AWS we can offer our customers a next-generation solution enabled by our HealthSuite platform that removes the time and cost barriers of cloud-based healthcare data backup and management."
"We're excited to bring the value of the cloud to even more healthcare organizations in collaboration with Philips," said Bill Vass, Vice President, AWS Storage Solutions. "By combining the expertise of Philips' HealthSuite with the power of our AWS Import/Export Snowball service, which transfers petabyte-scale data with secure appliances into and out of AWS, healthcare customers will be able to securely and reliably back up their important patient data to the cloud."
An early adopter of AWS technologies, Philips previously announced a collaboration with AWS focused on the AWS IoT service to enable an ecosystem for new types of connected and personalized eHealth solutions.
Related news articles:
- Philips Healthcare's Profile
About Royal Philips
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people’s lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips posted 2015 sales of EUR 24.2 billion and employs approximately 104,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. The company is a leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as male shaving and grooming and oral healthcare.