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| International Telemedicine Markets & Business
Opportunities An Article from Global Telemedicine Report |
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| Profile: Taurus Technologies Takes on India | ||
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A small company out of Newport News, VA is attempting a huge project: Taurus Technologies
-- under the direction of CEO Arvind Patel -- is trying to get the Indian government to
buy into a plan to install a fleet of multimedia-based kiosks (with satellite
communications) throughout the subcontinent as a cheap way to bring improved health care
to rural millions. Patel, himself born in India, told GTR that the government is certainly interested but that there are various political difficulties, as a government shift may soon take place. Taurus isn't the only company interested in the project, although we cannot identify for certain any other players. (It is entirely possible that a Hughes, say, or a consortium of large hardware vendors, communications suppliers and systems integrators is going after the same project. In this sort of situation one hears frequently the plaint from the small players that the big guys are only after the big buck -- do a large demo, take the money, and get out. Whereas, they, the people with the time invested and the organic connection to the place are more interested in a sustainable solution. We make no judgment here because we haven't the facts -- yet.) Taurus is a systems integrator trying to leverage a background in systems engineering for nuclear plants into the international health-care arena. The idea of their contact in India, evolved with Patel's help, is to flood the country with kiosks equipped with basic diagnostic support, connected to a communications node that talks to the regional support center, which in turn links back to a national -- and, finally, international -- network. Taurus' job is to put together the subsystems for accepting diverse data feeds from everything from lab equipment to EKG to radiology sources. |
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| The Time and Money Involved | ||
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"If the [political] approvals happen, we'd like to do a pilot project around Delhi in
the next 90-120 days," Patel informed GTR. The cost-per-kiosk would run about
$150,000 to start with. Part of the vision that drives the kiosk idea is that once a
working model is generated, systems integrators will swarm in and drive down the cost. The Indian telecom infrastructure is basically being developed along European lines, with E-1 lines taking precedence. E-1 lines are, in terms of bandwidth, between T1 and T3. A 1.5 GHz TDMA pump has recently been turned on. There are a number of different players involved: AT&T and Aditya Birla (a billion-dollar Indian concern involved with a number of industries besides telecom) have teamed up to win contracts to provide infrastructure in several Indian states. Back in the U.S., Patel and Taurus now search for component and device manufacturers whose products can be integrated into the kiosk. "It is tough to find cooperative vendors who provide data access at the level we need it," observes Patel. They have spoken with both Corometrics (which does work with Dr. Jason Collins, the developer of an in-home, md/tv-based fetal-monitoring solution) for EKG/ECG, and they also are attempting to deal with Beckmann, which supplies PC-based lab tools. GTR will keep you up to date as things progress in India. |
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