Sun ONE, Just What the Doctor Ordered

The American Hospital Association (AHA) Wednesday says it has worked a deal with Sun Microsystems to keep its doctors and nurses connected.

As part of the agreement, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based networking giant will be building the platform for a new portal for use by 5,000 AHA member hospitals and others in the healthcare field, based on its Sun Open Network Environment (Sun ONE) platform.

The portal will serve as a site that healthcare professionals can access to obtain data such as regulatory information (i.e., Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act – HIPAA), best practices, research, educational materials and other tools.

Users also will be able to interact via chat rooms and will have access to technology applications and available products and services through e-commerce applications.

“Because the healthcare field faces strict regulatory and financial challenges, any technology solutions we offer our members must provide value and enhance their ability to provide care,” says AHA executive director for strategic development Herman Baumann. “Sun will provide the ideal architecture and product portfolio to help build the AHA portal.”

The AHA portal is also expected to include other Sun-branded bells and whistles, including iPlanet Portal Server, iPlanet Application Server, iPlanet Directory Server, iPlanet Web Server, iPlanet Messaging Server, Sun Enterprise servers and Sun StorEdge systems running the Solaris 8 Operating Environment.

No word yet on how much the AHA is paying for the Sun ONE platform or when it might get rolled out.