Axeda Powers Welch Allyn PartnerConnect™ for Medical Device Remote Service

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Axeda Corporation announced today at the HIMSS12 Annual Conference that Welch Allyn, a leading global manufacturer of medical diagnostic equipment, is using Axeda to enable its PartnerConnect™ remote services offering.  Axeda is the leading provider of cloud-based software for managing connected products and implementing innovative machine-to-machine (M2M) applications. The company serves more than 60 of the world's leading medical device companies.   

Built on the Axeda® Platform, PartnerConnect is part of the Welch Allyn Partners in Care Services program, enabling remote diagnostics of devices and systems, as well as software installations, updates, and upgrades. It also provides preemptive service capabilities, allowing the Partners in Care Technical Support Center to remotely view devices and system configurations in real-time via the Internet.

"PartnerConnect gives us a secure and ongoing connection with our bio-med customers in hospitals and doctor's offices around the world," said Jason DiFraia, Director of Global Services Marketing, Welch Allyn. "This connection has enabled us to extend the life of our products, reduce total cost of ownership, and deliver an even better user experience for our customers."

With PartnerConnect, software updates are installed at the convenience of the customer so that patient care is not interrupted.

"Previously, if we wanted to have customers' equipment upgraded or fixed we would need the customer to ship it back to Welch Allyn," said DiFraia.  "Now all of that is done onsite so customers don't need to wait for the latest product features and they are not without the equipment for extended periods of time."  

Connectivity of medical devices has accelerated due to the adoption of electronic medical records, as well as to the increased complexity of the products.

"There is almost an expectation now that medical devices will have some sort of remote capabilities available," added DiFraia.  "By working with Axeda, we not only gained advanced out-of-the-box remote service capabilities, but also a platform for continued innovation. The Axeda technology also met our strict security requirements, which is a critical need for successful deployments in our industry."

Welch Allyn estimates that the PartnerConnect remote support capabilities will save the company hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, in product upgrade shipping costs alone, and that these savings will continue to grow when the company delivers a new firmware release to their customer base this Fall.  

In addition, the connected product data from Axeda now links directly to the Welch Allyn SAP solution, automatically populating any changes to the device in its SAP service record by serial number.  This allows for up-to-date FDA compliance record keeping without any manual intervention.

"Welch Allyn is one of our most advanced customers in terms of how they use connected product data," said Bill Zujewski, executive vice president of product strategy and marketing, Axeda. "Their team has launched a very successful connected product solution, they have 'M2Mized' their operations by feeding enterprise business systems, and they have a roadmap for other customer-facing applications that they can deliver – all leveraging valuable device data.  It is very exciting to see our customers innovate this quickly."   

Serving more than 150 of the world's leading product manufacturers, Axeda's connected product management applications provide advanced capabilities to manage connected intelligent assets. Axeda's application and data integration platform enables companies to M2Mize (use M2M data to optimize) their business processes including billing, configuration management, and consumable management or build new innovative applications for their customers.

More Information
Welch Allyn's innovative products will be on display at the HIMSS12 Annual Conference, taking place this week at the Sands Expo Center (Booths #5528 & #11000).  

Download more information on PartnerConnect here: http://www.welchallyn.com/documents/Promotions/services/partnerconnect/Partner-Connect-EN.pdf.

About Welch Allyn
Founded in 1915 and headquartered in Skaneateles Falls, NY (USA), Welch Allyn is a leading global provider of medical diagnostic equipment and a complete range of digital and connected solutions. With 2,750 employees working in 26 different countries, Welch Allyn is a family-owned business that specializes in helping doctors, nurses and other frontline practitioners across the globe provide the best patient care by developing innovative products, breakthrough technologies and cutting-edge solutions that help them see more patients, detect more conditions and improve more lives. More information about Welch Allyn and its complete line of connected products and solutions may be found at www.welchallyn.com.

About Axeda
Axeda provides the leading cloud-based service and software for managing connected products and implementing innovative M2M application — taking the cost and complexity out of connecting and remotely servicing the products of the world's leading companies. Axeda customers use its M2M cloud service to deliver innovative M2M solutions and optimize their business processes with data from their connected products.

By relying on the Axeda® Platform to power their connected products, companies are transforming their business by improving customer satisfaction, reducing costs, and generating new sources of revenue. The M2M solutions behind these connected products range from remote service, fleet management, usage-based insurance, asset tracking, mHealth, and more. Join our developer community at: http://developer.axeda.com and learn more at www.axeda.com.

SOURCE Axeda Corporation