Friday, August 26, 2005

Intel's post-PC era might have something to do with the 50 plus

The aging population and its attendant boost to America's already runaway healthcare spending furnishes Intel with a growing market for all sorts of healthcare-related technology.  Intel’s aims are far broader than just selling a few more PCs and servers.
  
At a keynote speech the head of Intel's Health Care division talked up home healthcare devices that collect patient data round-the-clock and transmit it to healthcare providers. This will include new gadgets like a Bluetooth enabled stethoscope.

Ultimately, Intel conceives of a network of wirelessly connected medical devices collecting data, transmitting it, processing it, and feeding it into a standardized, interoperable national healthcare network that connects healthcare providers and patients in a single giant mesh of information. Of course, such an "ecosystem" (as Intel calls it) will cost a lot of money to implement, but that just spells big bucks for the chip maker.

I think this is an interesting development that companies, like Intel, are looking to the huge business opportunities created by the aging population and wanting to get a part of the action.

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