Top US healthcare network Partners collaborates with InterSystems on Ensemble

InterSystems has successfully completed a 16-month collaborative design and testing programme for its new Ensemble integration platform with Partners HealthCare Systems in the US. The Boston-based healthcare network has been working with InterSystems on Ensemble as part of a new enterprise-wide connectivity strategy.

Ensemble marks InterSystems` entry into the integration software market. The move follows the company`s successes in the provision of database technology for the healthcare market through its post-relational CACH'E database.

Founded in 1994, Partners is a healthcare delivery system - comprised of a number of major healthcare institutions - that offers patients a continuum of coordinated high-quality care. It is recognised across the US as a leader in leveraging IT to support ongoing innovation and improvement in healthcare delivery.

Partners provided extensive input on the design and architecture of Ensemble. "InterSystems` software development model calls for working very closely with early technology adopters to ensure we create solutions that combine advanced capabilities with real-world practicality," says Paul Grabscheid, InterSystems VP of strategic planning. "We`re very appreciative of Partners` contributions to the development of Ensemble."

One key criterion for integration success at Partners is end-to-end system management. "Problem identification can be extremely difficult when multiple applications are integrated on an enterprise scale," notes Ethan Fener, Partners associate director of application development. "The problem is generally not visible within any application, but it becomes very evident at the point of integration, so it`s the integration person who gets the phone call in the middle of the night. We worked to make Ensemble monitoring smart enough to identify the sender or receiver that is the root cause."

Ensemble offers highly customisable, extensible, graphical monitoring and management facilities that make it possible to rapidly diagnose and debug problems, locally or from a remote location. Sophisticated management features were a critical integration success factor for Partners.

"With more than 50 000 end-users accessing applications from locations state-wide on a 24x7 basis, high performance and scalability are key requirements for an enterprise integration solution," Fener says. To confirm that Ensemble could fulfil these criteria, Partners conducted a proof-of-concept project that involved integrating four clinical applications and performing extensive benchmark testing. "We tested the integration with real-world transaction loads. We brought down the system to test reliability and recovery, and we set up an integration scenario that simulated a live environment. The outcome has been very satisfactory. Now, we`re looking to deploy Ensemble in three different projects that require integration," Fener says.

"Application and information integration are a critical area of focus in our overall IT strategy," says Partners CTO Steve Flammini. "We expect Ensemble to play a key role in leveraging our investment in existing applications by integrating them with new technologies to enable new organisational initiatives. That`s an important part of ensuring that Partners will continue its mission to provide the best possible patient care, medical research, clinical education and community benefits."

"Ensemble has a unique combination of technologies - a universal service architecture, persistent object engine, and seamlessly integrated development and management environments - that make rapid enterprise-scale integration possible," says Henry Adams, country manager for InterSystems SA.