Software Characterization
The O3 products are developed according to the following features:
  • Scalability: they should be scaled for any range, up to national and international scope;
  • Portability: they should be developed using Java and Web Technologies;
  • Independency: they should be independent of hardware and software configurations;
  • Internationality: they should be easily internationalized in any language;
Besides these important features, 3 are the main characteristics of all the software developed under the umbrella of the o3 Consortium Project:

Open Source

 

Open Standard

 

Interoperability

 

 

Open Source

The goal of Open Source solutions, especially in the healthcare, is to overcome the classical black-box approach.

This means that Open Source solutions should guarantee:

  • Vendor independency
    • Possibility to choose other vendors/partners with the best quality/price ratio.
  • Transparency
    • Nothing is hidden.
  • Cheapness
    • No license costs.
  • Stability
    • If the vendor retires from market, others are able to substitute it.
  • Ease of integration with other systems
    • The protocols used for communication are always open and usually standard.
  • Speediness in bug and issue solving
    • The developing community is always active and takes care of issues in short time.
  • Upgrades availability
    • Several developing subjects guarantee several releases and versions.
  • Tight relationship with users
    • Transparency guarantees a collaborative and useful dialog between vendors and users.

Open Standard

Since the project is Open Source, even the protocols used for communication are open. In addition we decided to employ standard protocols as much as possible, in order to ease the integration with other systems.

The standards supported by o3 systems are:

  • DICOM for Images, Structured Reports, Evidence Objects and Waveforms
  • HL7 for administrative data
  • SCP-ECG for ElectroCardioGraphs

Furthermore, in order to avoid tuning of the systems once connected to others, we decided to use the standard protocols without adding private fields, to pursue the goal of complete interoperability.

 

Interoperability

 

O3 works hard towards interoperability, and o3 systems are totally compliant with the world-wide interoperability health management initiative “Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise” (IHE). O3 “bricks” are built according to IHE “Actors” and O3 information flows are totally compliant with IHE Integration Profiles.

IHE is an initiative started by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information. IHE promotes the coordinated use of established standards such as DICOM and HL7 to address specific clinical needs in support of optimal patient care. Systems developed in accordance with IHE communicate with each another better, are easier to implement, and enable care providers to use information more effectively.

 

IHE Europe IHE

 

 
 
gototop