Ashtead, UK – 27th January 2010 - BridgeHead Software, the healthcare data management specialist, has welcomed news that Oracle's $7.4 billion take-over of software rival Sun Microsystems is set to go ahead after European regulators have given the green light on the deal.
“This really is excellent news for Healthcare providers as both Oracle and Sun have a focused Healthcare practice and complementary solutions in this vertical, and, of course, it goes without saying many of these clients and customers use our data archiving, back-up and recovery technology as part of these solutions,” said Tony Cotterill, BridgeHead's chief executive.
"The deal - which was announced in April last year - will see the world's second largest software company gain access to Sun’s hardware, as well as its Java/Solaris technologies. This will allow Oracle to further develop an end-to-end solution that rivals that of IBM and other major vendors," he said.
"Oracle's move is good news for our HEAT (Heterogeneous Enterprise Archive Topology) solution, which was developed in partnership with Sun, as it assures the continuing longevity of the technology, which supports seamless integration with PACS, HIS, and other medical records systems," he added.
According to Cotterill, the `plug and go' HEAT appliance automatically identifies the value of data and maps it to the appropriate Sun storage system.
Compared to Content Addressable Storage offerings, BridgeHead reports that - over the first five years of ownership - healthcare units such as hospitals and health centres can enjoy a 60 per cent reduction in total cost of ownership by deploying HEAT.
In addition, Cotterill explained, HEAT reduces cooling and power consumption requirements by up to 80 per cent, and allows hospitals to use up to 75 per cent less space for the same quantity of storage.
The good news about the effective merger deal, says Cotterill, is that it ensures continuity for Sun's various technologies, as well as enabling Oracle to expand its reach into healthcare, and compete head on with long-standing Healthcare Technology vendors such as HP and IBM.
This expansion, he said, will be further enabled by the expansion of Oracle’s developer communities, who now have access to a much wider range of hardware and software technologies, including the HEAT technology, which was jointly developed by Sun and Bridgehead.
"Oracle has a healthy position in the North America healthcare IT sector, so having access to leading-edge technologies such as HEAT, will allow the company to expand into the international healthcare sector, driving forward with a combination of advanced technologies and access to Sun’s comprehensive dealer sales and support channels," he said.
"For clients using Sun solutions, as well as companies developing solutions such as HEAT that support those solutions, this deal makes sound business sense. For that reason we fully support Oracle in its aims. This is a win-win-win situation for the two industry majors, their customers and professional companies like BridgeHead Software," he added.
For more on the Oracle/Sun deal:
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