Wireless solutions aimed at health-care sector

TORONTO - Compaq Computer Corp. aims to end the "dual worlds" of the laptop and the desktop. That revelation, from one of the world's largest computer manufacturers, emerged recently at an unveiling of a line of Compaq Evo T hardware.

Compaq's one-device-will-do-both intention, company officials say, holds the promise of cutting computing costs by as much as half - particularly for cash-- strapped government organizations.

Compaq Canada vice-president Ralph Hyatt says his company is looking for Canadian telecom and health-care partners to replicate a wireless system already in the hands of some U.S. physicians.

At several American hospitals, wireless iPAQ PC handhelds in the wards connect to the hospital's central database via Compaq servers on the back end. So, as they do their rounds, doctors can diagnose patients, detail treatment, order drugs and make notes, all in real time.

"We get a strong sense these days that people would like to take the same computing experience with them no matter where they go," says Chris Landry, head of Compaq's design centre in Houston.

"With this, you get two for the price of one, and that could mean significant savings for organizations who traditionally equip their (employees) with both a computer for the office and a laptop or notebook for the road."

Compaq is billing the new Evo line of thin client servers, workstations and laptops as a step toward such a new era of mobile computing.

"This is our most important product announcement in the last 10 years," says Compaq vice-president John Thompson. "The productive worker - in government or business - needs to be untethered so they can work anywhere."

Compaq's Evo N400c Notebook is a case in point. Clipped on to the notebook's black lid is a burnished silver "multiport" module. When users raise the lid, the interchangeable module becomes an aerial for a specific wireless system - one module for wireless networking over LANs and WANs, another for Bluetooth and eventually modules for videoconferencing and future wireless standards. So, as you shift from one wireless environment to another, you can snap a different module into the Multiport.

So convinced is Compaq of this access, anywhere, anytime initiative, it has completely re-organized its business to get closer to the mobile computing needs of specific markets including both health care and government.

"A lot of doctors are looking for an input device that's wireless because clearly, as they walk around and see patients, they can't be tethered by cords," says Thompson.

"On the government side, especially at the national level, we're finding people are wanting to create access anywhere, anytime to database information nationwide," says Thompson. "And we, as a company, are interested in providing both the access and infrastructure portions of the solution."

Consequently, Houston will follow closely just how wireless fares with governments here.

Observed Johnson: "Canada is in a leadership position in telecommunications. You've been very inventive when it comes to telecom technology in order to serve a widespread population. But then, in effect, you've made invention the mother of necessity."

Copyright Plesman Publications Ltd. Jul 2001
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