Sun Microsystems has announced that its open source software is enabling the US Department of Health and Human Services or HHS to build a secure, open technology platform to connect federal government agencies and health information exchanges in the Nationwide Health Information Network, built over the internet.
Sun Microsystems said its open source technology was selected as the backbone of the Connect gateway software. Among other Sun solutions, Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN)-Connect uses Sun’s GlassFish open source application platform technology, the Java Composite Application Platform Suite service-oriented application Platform, and the Sun Java Identity Management suite.
Six federal agencies are expected to participate in NHIN-Connect by the end of 2009 demonstrating the speed and cost-effectiveness of using open source technologies to achieve scalable electronic healthcare interoperability, compatibility and collaboration.
Bill Vass, president and COO of Sun Microsystems Federal, said: The federal government has built a working prototype capable of being deployed across multiple agencies in a matter of months with minimal costs. The open nature of the IT foundation is critical to ensuring that government can work with the private healthcare sector to revolutionize the nation’s healthcare system.
