BlackBerry Invests In Medical IT Startup NantHealth

BlackBerry is to invest and collaborate with healthcare IT startup NantHealth as the smartphone manufacturer attempts to diversify its business amid its ongoing struggles in the smartphone market.

NantHealth’s platform helps medical professionals make better decisions through the collection of data, and is installed at 250 hispitals and connects 16,000 devices which collect three billion vital signs each year.

The two firms say they will collaborate on the development of this platform, using BlackBerry’s security assets to improve the privacy of the platform and use its mobile expertise to bring the platform to more devices.

BlackBerry NantHealth

“The future of the healthcare industry requires the ability to share information securely and quickly, whether device-to-device or doctor-to-doctor anywhere and at any time,” says Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, founder of NantHealth. “The potential to integrate BlackBerry’s secure mobile communications, along with the company’s QNX embedded technology, will put the power of a supercomputer in the palm of the caregiver’s hand.

“Providing actionable information at the time of need will significantly improve the efficiency of healthcare and, more importantly, the efficacy of care for the patient.”

BlackBerry is currently trying to return to profitability and has identified a strategy centred around services, messaging and its embedded systems. CEO John Chen says healthcare is an industry in which the company has “unique advantages” and says opportunities like this are essential to its future.

Embedded future

He says its QNX platform is established as a real time embedded system in medical environments and has suggested its enterprise version of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) would be ideal for secure messages to be sent between patients, family members and medical professions.

“This investment and planned collaboration aligns with the reliability, security and versatility of BlackBerry’s end-to-end solutions,” adds Chen. “NantHealth is a proven innovator in developing leading platforms that allow medical professionals to share information and deliver care efficiently.  BlackBerry’s capabilities align closely with NantHealth’s and this investment represents the type of forward-looking opportunities that are vital to our future.”

QNX is also used to power Apple’s CarPlay in-car operating system, while it will also be used in Ford’s Sync factory-installed, integrated in-vehicle communications and entertainment system. The platform was acquired by BlackBerry for $200m in 2010 and forms the basis for BlackBerry Playbook OS and BlackBerry 10.

Last week, it was reported that Chen said the company could quit the smartphone market if it continued to remain unprofitable, but he later denied this and said his comments had been taken out of context.

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