HOUSTON, Dec. 3, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Crescent Communications Inc. (OTCBB:CCES), a leading application service provider (ASP), announced today that its BLUEGATE(tm) health care division has partnered with IBM(r) (NYSE:IBM) to integrate IBM Sametime(r) and BLUEGATE, the Crescent information technology solution for the health care industry. The offering will be called BLUEGATE Consult(tm), declares Crescent Chief Executive Officer Manfred Sternberg.
Sametime -- a proprietary and secure instant messaging, conferencing and meeting solution -- is the most widely used product of its kind in the corporate world. BLUEGATE Consult provides stable and improved security features, allowing medical providers to communicate sensitive patient information electronically, instantly.
BLUEGATE Consult is part of the more complete BLUEGATE solution that enables physicians to become more efficient by using sound, secure technology while meeting emerging requirements from the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
HIPAA, passed by U.S. Congress, mandates that the entire U.S. health care industry process all health care information, including billing and record storage, through a secure data interchange beginning on April 14, 2003.
BLUEGATE provides a cost-effective, efficient way for hospitals, large clinics, regional laboratories and health plans to transmit confidential patient records, documents and other information across the Internet to physicians and patients.
"Think about it: Why shouldn't the health care industry enjoy information technology at the level corporate America has for the last decade?" Sternberg asks. "Many large corporations have constructed complex networks to bring people together from different geographic locations, with important ideas and critical business information."
"We're happy to see Crescent include a real-time collaboration product into its BLUEGATE health care solution," says David Pumpa, manager of IBM Worldwide Technology Partner Sales. "With IBM Sametime, doors will be opened to instantaneous, live communication. Between doctors, nurses and pharmacists, communications can be streamlined and improved dramatically with this tool."
International Data Corp. (IDC), a Framingham, Mass., market-research firm, says that by the end of last year, 20 million people were using instant messaging in business. IDC predicts that figure will rise to 300 million by the end of 2005.
"IM products are used by medical professionals in hospitals, clinics and trauma centers where real-time information flow can be critical," Robert Mahowald of IDC says. "In order to comply with HIPPA requirements, hospitals will look for secure messaging products in the near-term."
With BLUEGATE Consult, physicians have another medium to consult efficiently with their colleagues.
IBM Corp. is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM Software offers a wide range of middleware and operating systems for all types of computing platforms, allowing customers to take full advantage of the new era of e-business.
Based in Houston, Crescent Communications provides a value added network (VAN) focused on small-business and enterprise-level market segments. Crescent builds industry-specific, end-to-end solutions for such vertical markets as medical, high-end graphics and printing, legal and financial. Using several regional and national carriers, Crescent offers wireless, digital subscriber line (DSL) and traditional communication technologies. Crescent delivers virtual private networks (VPNs), application and Web hosting services, as well as managed firewall services from its ATM core fiber backbone network. For more information, visit http://www.crescentb.com.
Contained within are "forward-looking statements" consistent with the meaning of Section 27a of the Securities Acts of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove correct.
Following are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and/or other Countries: IBM, Lotus Sametime and Lotus SmartSuite.
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