KeyCorp has been selected as the smart card supplier for the JMed personal health record system being developed by a LifeGard, a British subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, for roll out around the world. A spokesman said KeyCorp's UK subsidiary has designed the JMed system and is developing key applications running across several platforms supported by the MULTOS operating system. KeyCorp's office in Scotland is also developing an API that will allow existing practice management systems to operate with JMed.
LifeGard plans to begin a pilot of JMed in the UK in the fourth quarter of this year and expects to have the system fully implemented in the UK by the end of 2001. It will then be rolled out globally using a licensing system that will allow any organisation to use the technology, the spokesman explained.
KeyCorp will receive a fee for each card that is issued for the first five years, and LifeGard plans to renew cards every three years.
"We won this deal in a competitive pitch against some of the world's smart card technology leaders and, with an adult British population of 59.5 million, the potential revenue for KeyCorp is substantial," acknowledged Michael Thomes, KeyCorp's CEO.
"Projects such as this will pioneer the way to widespread use of smart cards in all facets of our lives".iSoft wins SA hospital allianceThe recently formed Adelaide Community Healthcare Alliance (ACHA) has selected iSoft to provide an integrated patient management system for the three hospitals within the group. The first implementation of iSoft's PiMS system is expected to go live by October this year, and all three hospitals are scheduled to be using the software by March 2001.
A spokesman said the implementations will include a patient master index, patient management, medical records, patient billing, and results reporting. The system will run on a Compaq Intel server in a thin client configuration running Windows 2000 and Microsoft SQL Server 7.0.iSoft will also run a pilot of its WebStation, which will provide remote access for five of ACHA's specialists.iSoft recently announced that it had been awarded a contract to install its PiMS software at the Mater Private Hospitals in South Brisbane and Redland (The Insider Edition section of The Rust Report, June 30, 2000)Chamber of Commerce runs with marketboomerThe State Chamber of Commerce in NSW has forged a five-year alliance with marketboomer to build an online marketplace where Australian SMEs will be able to trade their goods and services. The agreement is expected to be worth about $A28 million to marketboomer, which will use its Dynamic Trading Engine to power the marketplace supported by Sausage Software's OTN and E-Business-in-a-Box.
A spokesman said the Commerce Zone marketplace will allow suppliers and purchasers to set up their trading rules via a customised Web interface, which will then ensure that orders meet the rules of both parties.
"So-called dot-com companies creating new branding in a marketplace must spend huge amounts of money marketing these new brands," noted Joe Ward, a director of marketboomer. "We simply plug into an existing channel that already markets to buyers and sellers in the marketplace. Furthermore, we provide them a share of the revenue and their members or customers reduce their operating costs simply by opening up their Web communication channel."
The Commerce Zone is expected to go live in August at www.thechamber.com.auCSIRO forges research links with MalaysiaThe CSIRO hopes to help Australian technology companies commercialise their products through a research relationship it has formed with Malaysian IT services provider SCS Computer Systems. The deal commits the partners to apply information technology and telecommunications technologies to service industry sectors such as healthcare, petroleum, government, banking, telecommunications and e-commerce.
Dr Ron Sandland, deputy chief executive of CSIRO, said that the new relationship will provide a route for the successful commercialisation of Australian technologies. "The relationship will benefit Australia by creating opportunities for partnerships with Australian companies who are looking for regional business opportunities," he said.
"CSIRO's industry-focused research capabilities and SCS's industry and regional knowledge are a powerful combination that we expect will deliver considerable benefits to the economies of both countries."
News briefs from the home front
The Australian Government's .au Domain Administration body has angered some elements of the Internet community by granting Melbourne IT the exclusive right to allocate .com.au domain names for at least a year while .auDA introduces a model for the development of competition in the domain name registration industry. In addition to the extended rights, .auDA made a grant of $A659,000 to Melbourne ITInfosentials has launched a US computer training and certification program -- the American Computer Drivers Licence -- which verifies a person's competence in the use of basic software applications. The US program is based on a similar system Infosentials initiated in Australia. In the US the program will be delivered via online learning companies and e-learning portals, as well as in traditional classroom situations, a spokesman explained.
Ericsson has decided to set up a mobile portal solution centre in Australia to service the Asia/Pacific region. A spokesman said that Ericsson's developers will create an information model that will be used when developing mobile portals for telecommunications carriers, service providers, ISPs and enterprises.
Telstra is preparing to announce prices for its ADSL services, which will allow high speed data and Internet services over existing copper cables. Teleworking options for businesses will be offered through the HyperConnect services, a spokesman said. He added that interest in the services is high and that Telstra has received about 1.3 million requests for information at its Web site in a five week period.
But Telstra has not been having such a happy time with Australia's consumer watchdog. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission last week decided that Telstra is charging its competitors too much for access to the Telstra network. The ACCC estimated that Telstra's charges are about 30 per cent higher than the costs that "an efficient operator" would incur. "As a result, Telstra enjoys an artificial competitive advantage, which can only harm consumers over the long term," explained Professor Allan Fels, chairman of the commission. The ACCC's report is available from its Web site at www.accc.gov.auTrade figures released this week showed that exports of services from Australia continue to grow strongly and had reached a total value of $A26 billion in 1998/99, which represented almost a quarter of total exports. Computer-related service exports reached $A662 million, which was about two-and-a-half times the value they had generated two years earlier. The details are contained in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's report, Trade in Services, Australia, 1998-99. www.dfat.gov.au/publications/statistics.htmlBriefs from abroadIntel claims that demand for notebook computers is growing much faster than had been forecast by the industry research companies and could lead to the sales of up to 30 million devices this year. IDC had forecast sales of 23 million units, an Intel spokesman noted. He added that ultra-portables are proving increasingly popular and could make up as much as 75 per cent of the market by 2004, a significant increase from today's 30 per cent.
Microsoft has moved closer to the launch of a 64-bit operating system with the release of a pre-beta version of Windows 2000 64-bit Edition. In launching the software this week Bill Gates asserted that 64-bit Windows on an Intel platform will be a reality by the end of 2000. Machines built on Intel's 64-bit Itanium chip were demonstrated during the week at Microsoft's Professional Developers' Conference in Florida.
Compaq and Seagate are being sued over alleged misuse of patented technology that can be used to improve the performance of disk drives. New York company Convolve alleges that it demonstrated the technology to Seagate and Compaq in 1998 and 1999 and that the two companies then misappropriated the technology. Convolve is seeking at least $US800 million in damages and an injunction barring the two computer companies from selling drives using Seagate's Sound Barrier Technology.