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Blood sugar, Glucose meter, Machine to Machine (M2M), Medical, Qualcomm, Telcare

Telcares Blood Glucose Meter Calls Home via Verizon

Telcare’s next-generation wireless blood glucose meter – the Telcare BGM has now been certified to operate on Verizon’s nationwide cellular network. The product was developed in collaboration with both Verizon and Qualcomm, Inc., and is the first medical device to utilize Qualcomm’s new Internet of Everything module. Telcare’s product is the first technology to make CDMA connectivity affordable for consumer-focused medical devices. The product will be exhibited in Telcare’s booth, located inside the Qualcomm Life Pavilion #26715 at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show.

The Telcare product will operate with both Telcare’s FDA-cleared diabetes management portal and with other soon-to-be released mHealth care management platforms. By integrating Telcare’s FDA-cleared blood glucose meter and cloud server to the Verizon network, people with diabetes, their families, and their health professionals will now be able to integrate real-time measurement of blood glucose levels with other physiologic parameters, such as weight and blood pressure.

“Telcare is excited to establish this collaboration as it will enable us to better support Americans with diabetes, their loved ones, and their medical caregivers. Moreover, the outstanding cellular coverage afforded nationwide by Verizon wireless will be particularly valuable in continuously connecting people with diabetes to their care system,” said Jonathan C. Javitt, M.D., M.P.H., Telcare’s CEO and co-founder.

Diabetes mellitus affects 32 million Americans and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that one in three Americans born after 2000 will have the condition. Although the complications of diabetes can be prevented through daily monitoring and control of blood sugar, diabetes today accounts for one in ten healthcare dollars spent in the U.S. and results in needless strokes, heart attacks, amputations and cases of blindness.

Telcare BGM is a registered trademark of Telcare, Inc.

Data loss prevention software, encryption, Filesystem-level encryption, Virtustream, Vormetric

Virtustream Adds Cloud Database Encryption, Key Management

Virtustream today added software-based “data at rest” encryption to its cloud services portfolio through a partnership with Vormetric, a leader in enterprise encryption and key management. With this extra protection, Virtustream’s xStream cloud management software and Virtustream cloud IaaS services provide highly secure and compliant solutions that enable enterprises, governments and service providers to safely run mission-critical applications in private, public and hybrid clouds.

The company will now offer Vormetric’s database and file encryption solution to customers needing an additional layer of security to satisfy internal sensitive data policies and compliance mandates regarding business data. For enterprises required to comply with regulatory guidelines and compliance frameworks such as NIST 800-53, DIACAP, FedRAMP, FISMA, ICD503, G-Cloud, CSA Recommendations, ISO27001, HIPAA/HITECH, PCI, SSAE16/SAS70 and other industry standards, this new service provides a sophisticated approach to protecting highly sensitive data in the cloud. Virtustream’s new data encryption offering allows enterprises mandating full data life cycle encryption to take advantage of the cloud.

The addition of Vormetric Data Security adds to the enhanced security measures in Virtustream clouds which include layered physical/virtual security, cloud-to-cloud encryption, core servers equipped with new Intel CPUs that support Advanced Encryption Standard New Instruction Set (AES-NI) for optimal encryption efficiency, hardware-level authentication (Intel TXT), encrypted VPN (IPSEC and SSL), Key Escrow using Data Security Modules (DSMs), encryption in archive, GRC tools, two-factor authentication, and various additional security and compliance measures and reporting.

“File-level encryption is the most effective and flexible approach to cloud data security for enterprises concerned with regulatory compliance, protecting their IP and meeting contractual obligations around customer data,” said Bruce Johnson, vice president for worldwide sales and service operations at Vormetric. “By offering Vormetric Encryption through a pay-as-you-go model, Virtustream is providing comprehensive, built-in and transparent security for any database, that can follow customer data—whether it is in the cloud or a datacenter.”

As the Virtustream team evaluated security and encryption software to pair with its cloud solution, it found that many of the larger vendors focus primarily on end-user computing and encrypting whole drives, which only protects against specific threats and could not support a variety of deployment modes. Vormetric’s solution quickly emerged as the leader in enterprise class security, as it emphasized encryption at the file/folder level, transparently across all major database platforms. It also enables very granular separation of duties to allow for a variety of support models from zero client touch, to co-managed operations, to full key management by clients. Vormetric encryption ensures that there is no unauthorized data access from inside or outside an organization. In stress testing, Vormetric exceeded Virtustream’s performance expectations with a virtually indiscernible impact on application response time, excellent manageability and detailed logging of file access for Database Access Monitoring requirements (DAM) and Data Leakage Prevention (DLP) reporting.

Virtustream now stands as the first cloud provider to offer the Vormetric solution in a SaaS model with elastic, consumption-based pricing—services are priced per virtual CPU of each database server, as opposed to traditional perpetual licensing models.

“It can be challenging to get large enterprises to trust the cloud, so this partnership with Vormetric provides a significant security measure required to overcome that concern,” said Pete Nicoletti, director of security and compliance at Virtustream. “With Vormetric’s solution, we now have a database encryption security option suitable for customers who are required to comply with executive mandates or compliance frameworks but have not yet deployed encryption at their database or application layer. Adding this capability will make moving mission-critical data to the cloud a more feasible option for any enterprise looking for immediate risk reduction and cost savings.”

With this encryption service, Virtustream also offers and manages encryption of client databases at their location in the client’s datacenter before they even move the workload to the Virtustream cloud. This is a unique capability and allows customers that are concerned with protecting personally identifiable information (PII) and other sensitive information to achieve regulatory compliance and avoid potential data breach costs.

“By partnering with Vormetric, we are able to combine its nimble and powerful security solution with our cloud solution for increased data protection with high performance and low overhead,” said Mike Olson, vice president of operations and service delivery for Virtustream. “Together we offer customers a more secure, compliant cloud environment with reduced infrastructure costs, and increased performance and uptime.”

Belkin, Home automation, Machine to Machine (M2M)

Belkin Announces WeMo SMART, a Platform to Bring Internet Connectivity to Everyday Devices

Belkin today announced WeMo SMART, a program designed to bring its simple, Wi-Fi based WeMo home automation platform to new brands and a wider variety of household devices. Jarden Consumer Solutions (“JCS”), a leading provider of global consumer products brands, will be the first company to partner with WeMo SMART for its Sunbeam®, Crock-Pot®, Mr. Coffee® and Oster® brands.

“As smart devices become more prolific in the home, we wanted to give companies an easy way to reinvigorate traditional product categories with internet connectivity and the ability to integrate with other household devices and cloud-based services,” said Jamie Elgie, senior director of product management at Belkin. “JCS is the perfect initial partner because its brands make the exact kind of products our fans have been asking us to integrate with WeMo.”

The WeMo SMART platform allows companies such as JCS to bring smart capabilities to their products quickly and without developing a separate hub, by using Belkin’s existing WeMo technology, app development and cloud server. Mature product lines can be quickly brought into the smart home realm, giving them increased functionality and the ability to be controlled via smartphones and tablets.

“With Belkin’s focus on the tablet and smartphone market and recent successes in creating simple solutions for Internet connected devices, it is a natural partner to help some of JCS’s best-known brands create appliances that people can use to make their homes smarter, safer and more flexible,” said Alejandro Pena, senior vice president and general manager, Global Appliances.

By expanding WeMo to other known brands and appliances, Belkin gives people the ability to remotely monitor, program or interact with more devices in their homes from anywhere. The first JCS products with WeMo will launch later this year, with additional product offerings through 2014

 

Hardware, SED, Solid-state drive, Storage, Toshiba

Toshiba Announces Cryptographic-erase, Self-encryption Features for New Enterprise SSD, Mobile HDD

Toshiba Corporation today announced new enterprise SAS solid state drives (SSD), mobile SATA hard disk drives (HDD), including self-encrypting drive (SED) models in both product categories, and new enterprise-grade SATA SSD supporting cryptographic-erase. Select drives will start to ship in January with other models following later in the first quarter.

PX02SMQ and PX02SMU series enterprise SED (eSED) deliver government-grade Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256-bit self-encryption and offer Trusted Computing Group (TCG) Enterprise SSC protocol self-encryption and cryptographic-erase support. These high-performance, 2.5 inch enterprise models with SAS interface, target high-end servers and data center applications and provide capacities ranging up to 1.6TB[1].

The PX02AMU value line of SATA eSSD models and the PX03ANU read-intensive line of SATA eSSD models, both for enterprise applications, feature cryptographic- erase for fast and secure media sanitization.

For mobile computing, the MQ01ABU***W series provides self-encryption, cryptographic-erase and TCG-Opal SSC protocol support in a slim 7mm height with up to 500GB[1] of storage capacity. The MQ01ABU***W series also supports Toshiba’s innovative Wipe technology, which adds security features that allows system designers to automatically cryptographic-erase sensitive user data if an unexpected host attempts to access the HDDs or if a defined number of authentication failures occurs.

Toshiba is also reportedly working on FIPS 140-2 certification[2] for select SED products to meet government-class security requirements.

Buyline Consumables, Consumables Spend Analytics, Medical, Spend management, Supply chain

MD Buyline Releases Tiered Solution to Tackle Healthcare PPI, Supply Chain Cost Containment

MD Buyline today released the next generation of Buyline Consumables, a comprehensive, evidence-based technology and services suite designed to help healthcare providers achieve greater predictability and data driven cost reductions across their Physician Preference Items (PPI) and supplies purchases.

With cost containment on PPI and supplies being a critical challenge facing healthcare institutions today, Buyline Consumables helps to bring clinical, finance, operational, and supply chain teams together to produce significant and measurable financial results. By utilizing data from thousands of hospital systems nationwide, MD Buyline provides rich insight and analysis to uncover financial savings opportunities. The result is a flexible, cost effective, subscription based solution that significantly improves the financial performance of a critical area of the hospital, while positively impacting both physician and patient satisfaction.

As the foundational layer of the Buyline Consumables solution suite, the Spend Analytics platform includes access to a real-time data platform that aggregates and synthesizes information from thousands of hospitals and vendors. Delivered as a cloud-based offering and accessible to anyone with a web browser, Consumables Spend Analytics enables clinical, operational, supply chain and financial departments to gain detailed line-item level visibility and drilldown views into robust national and cohort benchmarks for PPI and supply spend, resulting in greater fiscal sustainability and improved patient outcomes.

The premium service component of Buyline Consumables solution suite, aggregates Consumables Spend Analytics with a layer of diagnostic frameworks and custom research, to provide an end-to-end decision support service. Unlike open-ended PPI consulting engagements that have little or no cost predictability, Consumables Spend Management is designed to support value analysis processes “from kickoff to implementation” at a fixed cost.

In addition to all elements of Consumables Spend Analytics, the Spend Management services include:

  • Custom research for the specific supply category, complete with
    summaries of the latest clinical evidence
  • RFP reviews and insight on contract pricing, terms and conditions best
    practices
  • Custom financial impact and decision support calculators
  • Analyst insights, recommendations & negotiation support

According to Satin Mirchandani, CEO, MD Buyline, “The Buyline Consumables solution suite is designed to efficiently and effectively support cross-functional technology selection and acquisition processes, thus driving step-function improvements in PPI and supply spend reduction. The proven MD Buyline technology and services platform, in combination with our experienced analyst team, is well-equipped to deliver an integrated solution that drives improved predictability and financial performance across the healthcare supply chain.”

Computer Electronics, Computer Hardware, Home automation, Machine to Machine (M2M)

Zonoff Releases Low-cost Wireless Home Automation Architecture

Zonoff, Inc., today announced the launch of the “Zonoff Distributed Radio Architecture” (ZDRA). The new architecture includes hardware reference designs for an ultra low cost wireless radio solution code-named “Sentry” which will be demonstrated by Zonoff at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

“The release of ZDRA and Sentry is the next logical step for Zonoff,” explained Mike Harris , Zonoff’s CEO. ZDRA and Sentry facilitate communication back to the home’s primary automation controller, which houses the “brain” of the connected home via Zonoff Home Software.

“Other companies have traditionally depended upon a dedicated home automation controller box to contain both their control software and the specific radios required for RF standards used in home automation, such as Z-Wave, ZigBee and others. Essentially, we have separated the control software from the radios, enabling the radios to be placed wherever they may be needed in the home, without the need for a wired Ethernet connection. The benefit is that consumers can use their existing WiFi network to add any home automation device in any location,” Harris explained.

Business Processes, Subscription business model, Ticket resale, Ticketmaster, Tickets

Spinneret Releases Ticket Portal for Resale Market

Spinneret today announced the availability of Ticket Portal, a subscription-based web app for creating and maintaining web sites to sell sports, concerts and theater tickets online.

The secondary ticket market, also known as the resale market, has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry. In this market, ticket brokers buy tickets from the primary sellers, such as Ticketmaster, and resell them to fans online.

Currently, it costs thousands of dollars and months of development, design and testing to create a website to sell tickets. This has effectively made selling tickets online an expensive investment accessible only to large ticket brokers and a few affiliates and marketers willing to take the investment risk.

Spinneret’s Ticket Portal app changes this and makes creating a ticket web site a quick and painless process with a low monthly subscription fee and no upfront fees. Ticket Portal is a single app that sits in the cloud and powers all subscriber websites, which are customized with themes and custom HTML content through a web-based administration panel.

Android, Canvas, Education, Instructure, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Mobile

Instructure Releases Canvas for Android

Instructure has released a new Canvas Android app, which enables mobile access to the Canvas learning platform from Android devices. Faculty and students can download the app for free from the Google Play store.

“The Canvas for Android app is designed to make it easy for faculty and students to stay connected to their courses, including courses from their institution or the Canvas Network,” said Brian Whitmer , co-founder and chief product officer at Instructure. “We’ve always pushed information to Android devices through our email and text messaging notification feature, but now users can participate in their courses through a native app designed specifically for learning.”

Canvas for Android provides an elegant way for students to access their Canvas To-Do list, Assignments, Calendar, Grades and more. It also enables them to read and compose messages using Canvas Conversations, a secure, built-in messaging system that connects participants in a course.

Since the initial launch of Canvas, Instructure has demonstrated its commitment to native apps for mobile devices. In 2011, the company released SpeedGrader for iPad, a powerful mobile grading app, and Canvas for iOS, an iPhone and iPad app with course functionality for students and instructors. With the release of Canvas for Android, Instructure is taking the first of many steps to bring a native Canvas experience to Android users.

“We recognize that the modern learner is mobile, and we believe a native mobile experience is critical to the learning experience,” said Devlin Daley , co-founder and chief technology officer at Instructure. “We didn’t decide after the fact to build mobile apps because it was a hip thing to do. We made an intentional decision to include mobile apps from the start – at no extra charge.”

Imation, M&A Activity, Nexsan, Storage

Imation Acquires Nexsan

Imation today announced that it has acquired privately held Nexsan Corporation, a Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based provider of disk-based storage systems. The combination cash-and-stock transaction included approximately $105 million in cash and 3,319,324 Imation common shares, the equivalent of approximately $15 million.

“Imation’s acquisition of Nexsan is an exciting next step in our strategic transformation, which includes investing in growth platforms in data storage and security solutions, where we are targeting markets with strong growth rates,” said Mark Lucas, president and CEO of Imation. “Our strategy includes focusing on the underserved SMB market with purpose-built storage systems and appliances. This is a market that Nexsan knows well. Nexsan’s management team has grown this business from start-up to more than $80 million, with strong gross margins. Nexsan is a successful company that is addressing some of today’s fastest growing trends in storage, and we are pleased that its management team, including CEO Philip Black, will join Imation. The combination of Nexsan’s products, technologies, and talented teams with Imation’s global reach and infrastructure will be an excellent accelerator for our growth strategy in storage solutions,” concluded Lucas.

“We are excited to have Nexsan become part of Imation,” said Philip Black, CEO of Nexsan. “Imation provides us the scale and global footprint to expand our business, while still keeping intact our award winning partner program, our strong management team and employees, and our innovative products and roadmap. We look forward to working as part of Imation to deliver compelling solutions that meet the growing storage, archive and compliance requirements of businesses worldwide. This is good news for Nexsan channel partners, employees and customers.”

Nexsan’s 2011 revenues were $82 million and are continuing to grow, with gross margins in the 40 percent range. This acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to Imation’s EBITDA.

Approximately 200 employees, based in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, have joined Imation with this acquisition. The Nexsan business will continue to operate within Imation from Nexsan’s current headquarters in Thousand Oaks, Calif., under existing management. Integration and global expansion activities between Imation’s Tiered Storage and Security Solutions business and Nexsan will be determined in first quarter 2013.

Business Processes, Health Care, M&A Activity, TriZetto, Workflow

TriZetto Acquires Cloud-based Claims Workflow Automation Company

TriZetto Corporation today announced its acquisition of Franklin, Tenn.-based Healthcare Productivity Automation (HPA). HPA’s healthcare workflow automation solutions will be integrated with TriZetto’s business management services unit over the coming months. Terms of the transaction, which closed on Dec. 17, were not disclosed.

HPA solutions employ a highly advanced, cloud-based claims workflow tool, Health Mason®. The Health Mason solution automates certain manual processes in claims administration, which can greatly improve the efficiency and quality of the provider reimbursement process. The tool replicates human decision-making to review large volumes of claims, enter data and determine the best way to process claims. Processing can be up to 30 times faster than typical manual processes, with high reliability – more than 95 percent first-pass accuracy on a rolling 12-month average across HPA’s book of business.

“The acquisition of HPA underscores TriZetto’s continuing investment strategy to provide innovative, integrated technology and service solutions that simplify healthcare and improve both its efficiency and effectiveness for payers, providers and members,” said Harish Mysore, senior vice president of corporate development and strategic alliances at TriZetto. “This acquisition builds on our commitment to enhance payer-provider collaboration by increasing the quality, accuracy and efficiency of claims processing and payment.”

“We’re excited to join TriZetto because its large payer and provider client base allows us to make a bigger impact on healthcare,” said Sal Novin, HPA’s CEO. “In managing the claims administration function of dozens of health plans, TriZetto will leverage HPA’s technology to bend the cost curve of processing claims and increase administrative efficiencies for both healthcare payers and providers.”