MIX is a 3 day conference held annually in Las Vegas that gives developers in-depth exposure to Microsoft’s emerging technologies, the company vision, and how these two will come together to impact the industry. Two members of Cambridge BioMarketing’s technology team were in attendance–soaking up the scene and envisioning how Microsoft’s new technologies could be applied to healthcare.
You can usually expect several big announcements during the keynote address. Last year at it was all about Silverlight and Expression 3, Streaming Media and IIS, and the Microsoft BizSpark program. All interesting stuff for geeks like me, but nothing industry shattering. This year was different. The focus was on Windows Phone 7 Series (WP7) and the tools used to build applications for the platform.
Microsoft announced several exciting new tools and platforms that enable developers to build Cloud driven Mobile apps quickly and efficiently using technologies they already know like Silverlight, LINQ, .NET, C# and Visual Studio.
So what does this mean for healthcare? Well there are some interesting side effects of Microsoft’s current approach, not all directly related to Mobile. Here are the recent Microsoft platform developments and how they may impact the healthcare industry.
Dynamic Mobile Apps With (WP7) and Microsoft Silverlight
With the advent of Silverlight on WP7 we now have a true build it once/ optimize everywhere framework. Developers no longer have to build separate applications for each platform. We can now build a single application in Silverlight and with only minor changes deploy it everywhere; Web, Intranet, Mobile, Kiosk, even to the Xbox.
- Healthy MIX: True multi-platform applications that are highly scalable. Faster develop times and easier deployment. Imagine salesforce applications that can be built once but deployed easily on multiple platforms.
Expanding Multi-Touch Applications through Windows 7
Because WM7 phones are multi touch, developers need a way to build and test applications for the device. One way to do this is to build the applications on Windows 7 with a multi touch Monitor. At the same time Silverlight is optimized for multi touch development. This means that support for multi touch drivers and applications will accelerate rapidly in the next 6-12months.
- Healthy MIX:Multi-touch applications could become more commonplace at industry events and for use with tablets, touchscreens and devices. No longer a novelty, immersive touchscreens will become the standard for interactive medical applications.
Silverlight out of browser
With the release of Silverlight 3 developers can now enable rich internet applications to be installed out of the browser. This means that your users can now opt to install your web application and have it available anytime anywhere. If they use it when they’re off line it can save data locally then synchronize with the server once they go back online.
Healthy MIX: Smart sales aides that are available on or offline. Interactive tools no longer need to be connected to the Internet to function.
The Open Data (OData) Protocol and the “Dallas” project
Microsoft has been working with the W3C on a data protocol called OData, an open protocol for sharing data. When it takes a foot hold it will bring consistency to enormous data collections allowing developers to query and display results that are combinations (mashups) from various sources. If you’ve ever heard the term “Symantec web” this protocol can make it a reality.
At MIX10 Microsoft also revealed a project code named “Dallas”. This project is an open marketplace for OData providers allowing anyone to buy and sell large data collections. Imagine the databases such as Netflix, Amazon or Kelly Blue Book made available in a consistent format for anyone to query for a small fee.
- Healthy MIX: Want a see a global heat map of people who have bought books about diabetes? It will soon be possible, and quite easy. OData will allow healthcare applications to seamlessly load and display large quantities of data; allowing for easier visualization and decision-making.
Pivot Collections
Microsoft Pivot is a data visualization tool that allows you to quickly and easily visualize vast amounts of data. Pivot collections are based on the OData open standard. So as you could imagine, anything that can be dreamed up with “Dallas” mentioned above could be visualized with Pivot.
- Healthy MIX:Visualize large data collections quickly and easily to gain insight and extract meaningful information.
Mike Demopoulos is Cambridge BioMarketing’s Director of Digital Design & Technology. Check out his blog about SilverLight Design and Development
