LINK Announces Microsoft Participation in AWG

LINK Medical Computing, Inc., a core member of the Andover Working Group (AWG) MIB SIG, is pleased to announce that Microsoft Corporation has joined us and fellow core and supporting members on the AWG.  The following press release was issued at the fourth annual MS-HUG conference in Orlando, Florida.

ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 11, 1998 -- Hewlett-Packard Company today announced that Microsoft(R) Corporation, as well as Glaxo Wellcome, Hartford Hospital and Quinton Instrument Company, has joined the core membership of the Andover Working Group's HL7-focused committee for 1999.

The announcement was made at the Microsoft Healthcare Users Group (MS-HUG) conference, being held here Oct. 11-14.  Core members are the most influential participants in the Andover Working Group and contribute senior technical expertise to the development and implementation of the group's specifications for plug-and-play interoperability.  The four new core members will join the renewing core members from previous years, plus a worldwide 300-organization supporting membership, to further Andover Working Group's goals.

The Andover Working Group, established in 1996 to work closely with information standards organizations to accelerate commercial use of standards in healthcare, thereby reducing integration costs and improving information flow, is committed to enabling the first commercial implementations of its common HL7 specifications in the coming year.

"We are extremely pleased with these additions to the Andover Working Group's front line," said Nancy Hinckley, marketing program manager at HP's Medical Products Group.  "The core members are typically leaders in their categories, ensuring the best representation for the needs of the healthcare industry's various segments."

"Microsoft has the same goal as the Andover Working Group: to accelerate the development and adoption of a standard set of interoperability tools," said John Carpenter, worldwide healthcare industry manager at Microsoft.  "We believe that closer collaboration with the Andover Working Group's HL7 Committee will serve the healthcare industry well."

The addition of Microsoft as a core member is expected to strengthen the affiliation already shared between the Andover Working Group and MS-HUG's ActiveX for Healthcare Committee (AHC).

"The AHC is enabling the availability of a commercially supported ActiveX component for HL7," said David Baird, technical director at InterQual, Inc. and chair of the AHC.  "We are accelerating our collaboration with the Andover Working Group so that software developers will not have to choose between two application programming interfaces."

"Microsoft's technical representative now has a seat at the Andover Working Group table, and we are already seeing results," said Jack Harrington, principal architect at HP and technical chair of the Andover Working Group.   "Further, the Andover Working Group and AHC affiliation is based on the desire to deliver a converged interface specification, which we expect to complete at a joint meeting in December."

Information about the Andover Working Group and supporting membership can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.interactive.hp.com/mpgawg/.