By ADAM GIFFORD
Several New Zealand software companies have been hit by the decision of Britain's National Health Service decision to sign a nine-year deal with Microsoft.
The deal, worth £500 million ($1.33 billion) puts Microsoft software on 900,000 desktops and is supposed to save £112 million over three years.
Kiwi health software developers Orion Systems and Jade Software are both condemning the deal.
Orion Systems chief executive Ian McCrae said the move meant Microsoft became a direct competitor to independent software vendors who developed applications on its technology.
The Auckland firm's clinical information management applications are designed to run on Windows, Unix or Linux operating systems.
"I'm not sure if it puts Microsoft on a head-on collision course with people who have based their solutions on Microsoft, like iSoft. Does it mean Microsoft will take their business?" McCrae said.
Texas-based iSoft, which has bought New Zealand health software company iHealth, refused to answer that question, referring it to Microsoft.
McCrae said the NHS changes had already created problems for software vendors, as they could no longer sell to individual clinics or hospitals, but had to win a place with the large consortiums that had been given the task of supplying the new systems.
"It has killed off a lot of the local companies. The United Kingdom used to be a breeding ground for good IT health companies. A lot of products came out of there, but there is no room now," McCrae said.
He said having to maintain Microsoft-centric product lines for the British market would not help sales elsewhere.
"For a company like Orion, the technology is not as important as having a deep understanding of clinical requirements and clinical management.
That's where we need to be focused. That is an area where bigger firms like Microsoft have always struggled."
Jade Software chief executive Rod Carr said by spending on today's technology, the NHS was exchanging dynamic efficiency for static efficiency.
"The UK system would have gained a lot from setting standards, but will lose a lot from the loss of contestable supply if they are unable to keep the interest of anyone apart from iSoft and IDX on developing content," Carr said.
"If the National Programme for IT in the NHS had been around in 1989 it is likely they would have bought dumb terminals hanging off mainframes linked by proprietary networks with green screen presentation layers with Unisys, IBM and some other now failed hardware vendor as the choice."
He said that while a lot of the resources were focused on capital intensive, acute hospital based care, Jade was making inroads with applications for improving management of community-based care.
NZ developers fume over Microsoft deal
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