Healthcare and the cloud: towards a hCloud ?
Cloud computing is rapidly emerging as a preferred solution for the challenges of Big Data, mobility and access to information on demand, any time, from anywhere. Although a late arrival to the scene, healthcare has been making up for lost time in terms of embracing the Cloud.
Healthcare and Big Data
In reality, there is little choice. Healthcare is among the largest contributors to Big Data, not least because of the explosion in massive graphic files which constitute Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS). Coping with exabytes of information, growing by the second, has made traditional physical storage a relic. Data storage has become virtual, with the computing process moving to the data rather than the other way round.
In the healthcare context, this is pertinent given that physician interaction with PACS and other clinical information systems is what gives the data meaning. With 75% of physicians using a smartphone and more than 10,000 mobile health applications already in use, healthcare carries some of the biggest and most exacting requirements for mobility, scalability and security.
The above scenarios are central to the Cloud computing offer, and they have guided its development and refinement from the outset.
The Cloud: enhancing healthcare quality and cost-effectiveness
Cloud computing technologies can assist healthcare providers