McGill University Health Centre or MUHC Thursday said that it signed a major five-year contract with International Business Machines Corp.(IBM)to deploy a private storage cloud to more efficiently and securely store a growing amount of patient data.
MUHC estimates over the next five years, clinical images and electronic files from those patients will consume more than 500 terabytes of data, all of which must be available for clinicians' access in all time.
MUHC's current system required a more scalable and secure environment to meet that demand.
MUHC believes that the IBM solution will enable MUHC IT to centrally manage and consolidate various storage resources and provide a strategic and single view of all data. It will provide clinicians at these locations that are part of MUHC with a more comprehensive view of all patient and other data, accessed from many repositories and stored in many formats, seamlessly.
The MUHC private cloud system implemented by IBM will include hardware, software, training and the professional services of IBM Business Partner Metafore.
Barry Burk, IBM's vice-president, heathcare industry, said,"The cloud computing model is particularly applicable to healthcare applications due to the volume of dynamic and diverse sources of information."
Barry Burk added, "Cloud computing can help clinicians and hospitals coordinate and exchange information more efficiently. These flexible networks will be scalable in integrating and sharing services and data, which will help reduce costs."
Jean Huot,CIO at MUHC commented,"This transformational initiative is integral to our redevelopment project to create better care for life, by introducing innovative information technologies."
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