Collectively in the industry it has been often understood that the term medical device connectivity, simply means a connected medical device. The question remains what is the real definition of medical device connectivity? We are now faced with not only networked medical devices from a wired perspective; but also a wireless perspective. This wireless connectivity has been traditonally thought of as simply 802.11x, or 802.11a/b/g (n,is really not existent or needed at this point for medical device connectivity), or even this term of medical device connectivity could extend also in the case of WMTS (Wireleess Medical Telemetry Service). Others may not understand that this also includes to both the wide area (GSM/CDMA), as well as low power point to point and multi-point connectivity. The low power connectivity area has traditionally thought of as Bluetooth and Zigbee, but are many other RF radios and protocols that provide such connectivity as well. Whatever the wired or wireless protocol; there needs to be a strategic business plan developed for the healthcare end provider market, as the medical device community is bringing more and more of these multi-modality wireless devices into the marketplace. One may ask why is this evolution happening? It is pretty simple, Moores Law. Moores Law describes a long term trend in the history of computing hardware. The number of transitors that can be placed inexpensively on an an integrated circuit doubles approximetely every two years. This trend has continued for more than a half a century and is expected to continue until 2015 or 2020 or later. The pricing of of the technology whatever the means of medical device connectivity (in this case wireless), has been driven down to the affordable commmoditized price point where huge mobility business value can be realized. Add to this really baked out integration of the proper security and quality of service. So what are some of the challenges? First, how to develop a technology roadmap and business plan that will take into context all of the technology solutions and show the true business ROI and risk mitigation model in light of pending IEC 80001. This is exactly the sweet spot where Integra Systems, Inc. can help. We have over the years been in the trenches developing products and solutions for multiple medical device companies on both a low cost (point to point and multi-point), WLAN, and GSM/CDMA solution set. This has included, but has not be limited to also developing all the test plans and protocols as well as testing for an IDE and/or FDA 510k submission. This testing has included RF proximity testing as well ensuring the proper quality of service and security protocols over the enterprise with other life critical data, voice, video, and medical device applications.
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