Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Mednet to Offer Wireless Heart Monitoring with AT&T

Lifesaving diagnoses and actions, prompted by the anywhere, anytime availability of vital cardiac information, is now more accessible thanks to a wireless heart monitoring solution from Mednet Healthcare Technologies that is powered by AT&T's* wireless technologies.

Mednet, a leading provider of cardiac monitoring products and surveillance services, is helping doctors and patients remotely monitor heart arrhythmia through personal mobile devices. Under a new contract with AT&T, Mednet's HEARTRAK External Cardiac Ambulatory Telemetry (ECAT) solution will facilitate wireless monitoring of patient devices via Bluetooth-enabled cell phones across AT&T's expansive 3G and EDGE wireless data footprint, which covers more than 13,000 cities and towns and 40,000 miles of highway across the country.

Until now, patients using Mednet heart monitors utilized a toll-free number and had to place their monitoring device near a landline phone receiver to send a signal to a central monitoring center. With the new ECAT solution, patient data will be automatically transmitted via Bluetooth-enabled mobile devices, which synchronize with the heart monitor to streamline data transfer and enhance ease of use. Using AT&T's wireless network, the ECAT solution will allow the monitoring device to automatically record and send real-time patient data to a central monitoring center, where physicians can access and review the data. In addition to wireless monitoring, Mednet will also use AT&T voice services so cardiac technicians and physicians can quickly reach out to patients if needed.

"Using AT&T's wireless network, physicians will now be able to instantly monitor a patient's heart from virtually any location, making this one of the latest steps in advancing patient care," said Frank Movizzo, CEO of Mednet. "We look forward to expanding heart monitoring capabilities with AT&T."

AT&T Acquires Plusmo to Further Mobile Applications Strategy

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) today announced the acquisition of privately-held Plusmo, Inc., a leading provider of cross-platform mobile application solutions, bringing to AT&T an open standards technology that will simplify mobile application development, accelerate innovation and deliver a better application experience for consumers. Plusmo will become a part of AT&T Interactive, and the Plusmo mobile application development platform is expected to be used by multiple AT&T subsidiaries, including AT&T Mobility. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Plusmo platform dramatically reduces development time and costs by enabling developers to create widgets and applications using common web development standards that enable easy deployment across multiple mobile operating systems and devices. Plusmo has formed successful relationships with leading carriers, handset manufacturers and well known publishers. It has also developed a number of popular sports widgets that average more than 100 million monthly mobile page views.

“Plusmo’s technology will help us build upon the success and momentum we’re experiencing in mobile local search, which continues to see strong growth,” said David Krantz, president and CEO, AT&T Interactive. “The addition of Plusmo adds a new dimension to our technology prowess through its multi-platform approach. It highlights our commitment to invest in mobile application innovation and search leadership.”

The addition of Plusmo will give AT&T Interactive a greater ability to accelerate its mobile application development, which includes YPmobile, the popular mobile derivative of its YELLOWPAGES.COM web property. It will also help reduce development time and costs, and allow for over-the-air updates whenever new features are available. AT&T Interactive and other AT&T subsidiaries will also explore using the technology to create other applications and widgets that work on the three platforms that consumers use the most: mobile, the computer and TV.

“With the increasing demand for mobile services and applications, it’s an opportune time for Plusmo to be joining the AT&T family,” said Krishna Vedati, CEO of Plusmo. “Plusmo’s mobile platform capabilities will help contribute to AT&T’s effort to accelerate consumer adoption of mobile applications as well as expand the opportunity for publishers, media brands, service companies and developers to reach a large and coveted audience across a broad range of devices.”