据英国剑桥报道——基于无线的医疗保健技术市场很可能在任何经济低谷中依然保持相对的繁荣——但是厂商们在选择适当的商业模型和决定其产品或服务所基于的平台时仍然保持谨慎。

这就是基于英国剑桥分析“无线医疗保健”所发布的一份报告结论。

这份名为“无线医疗保健2008”的报告审视了多家公司，它们通过使用多种商业模型与技术平台来成功应用基于无线的医疗保健服务。

“无线医疗保健2008”中的厂商文件凸显了影响商业模型选择的多个因素。该报告还指出，尽管老年人保健是一个重要的驱动因素，但是专注于一个人群类型是错误的。

无线医疗保健的首席分析师Peter Kruger说，“越来越多的年轻人和中年人对健身产生了兴趣。这为用于监测身体表现的设备创造了上亿美元的市场，并见证了用于监测健康的技术平台的发展。”

这份报告还列举了提供给厂商的多个无线标准，例如802.11、蓝牙与ZigBee，并描述了在医疗部门内部因应用而客户化的软件平台。根据无线医疗保健，一些厂商的技术选择由合作者规定以帮助他们进入医疗市场。

该报告指出了基于无线主体监测技术的开发者Toumaz与拥有其自身医疗保健数据库软件的Oracle之间的关系，并将其作为影响平台选择的合作关系示例。

Kruger说，“与其他IT公司一起，无线厂商将受到信誉挤压的冲击。然而，医疗保健领域也在尽其所能地寻求削减成本并提高效率的方法。事实已经证明无线技术可以实现这一目标，而多家厂商，特别是积极参与消费者电子市场的那些，都将他们的部分产品重新定位为医疗或个人医疗保健设备。”

Wireless-based healthcare technology market 'to remain buoyant'

Written by Sam Collins

Tuesday, 07 October 2008

CAMBRIDGE, England -- The market for wireless-based healthcare technology is likely to remain relatively buoyant during any economic downtown - but vendors must still take care when choosing an appropriate business model and deciding on which wireless platform to base their product or service.

This is one conclusion of a report published by Cambridge UK-based analysts, Wireless Healthcare.

The report, "Wireless Healthcare 2008", examines a number of companies that have successfully deployed wireless-based healthcare services using various business models and technology platforms.

Vendor profiles in "Wireless Healthcare 2008" highlight a number of factors influencing the choice of business models. The report notes that while care for the elderly is an important driver it is a mistake to focus exclusively on one demographic group.

Peter Kruger, principal analyst with Wireless Healthcare, said, "An increasing number of young and middle-aged people are taking an interest in fitness. This has created a multi-billion dollar market for devices used to monitor physical performance and seen the development of technology platforms that could also be used to monitor health."

The report lists a range of wireless standards, such as 802.11, Bluetooth and ZigBee, on offer to vendors and describes software platforms that have been customised for use within the medical sector. According to Wireless Healthcare some vendors' choice of technology is dictated by the partners helping them break into the medical market.

The report points to the relationship between Toumaz, the developer of wireless-based body monitoring technology, and Oracle, which has its own healthcare database software, as an example of a partnership influencing the choice of a platform.

"Along with other IT companies wireless vendors will suffer as a result of the credit crunch," Kruger said. "However, the healthcare sector will also be looking for ways to cut costs and increase the efficiency with which healthcare can be delivered. Wireless has already proven to be a technology that can do this and a number of vendors, in particular those with a high exposure to the consumer electronics market, have repositioned part of their product range as medical or personal healthcare devices."