iSOFT Demonstrates 10,000 Concurrent Users

UK health IT firm iSOFT, has announced that in conjunction with HP and Microsoft it has completed benchmark tests of its electronic patient record (EPR) system, with up to 10,000 concurrent users.

The benchmark tests were performed on iSOFT’s EPR application software (i.EPR) and achieved sub-second transaction response times. This benchmark, one of the largest of its kind in healthcare, was carried out to provide a reference deployment model for large-scale multi-site EPR implementations, as required by the NHS Integrated Care Records Service (ICRS) Output Based Specification (OBS).

The OBS for ICRS states that suppliers bidding for contracts must be able to deliver systems capable of being used simultaneously by up 10,000 users across a ‘cluster’, with sub-second response times. Local ICRS solutions must also be able to scale seamlessly to hold the data associated with an estimated 10 million patients within each of the five clusters local service provider (LSP) contracts will be awarded for.

According to iSOFT the i.EPR benchmark showed the capacity of the system to provide the performance and scalability to support 10,000 concurrent users delivering 328,745 transactions per hour.

To carry out the benchmark tests a simulated i.EPR environment was built in HP’s European benchmark centre in Stuttgart, Germany. Tests were carried out using real world healthcare transactions such as: test ordering, result viewing, theatre bookings, patient admissions and appointments bookings.

Commenting on the benchmark, David Lubinski, Microsoft’s global head of healthcare, said: “This benchmark is another example of Microsoft’s strong relationship with iSOFT in realising high levels of application performance and scalability, utilising core Microsoft technologies.”

“In conjunction with our partners, we are very pleased to have successfully benchmarked our i.EPR with 10,000 concurrent users, which is representative of a significant proportion of an ICRS Cluster,” said Ravi Kumar, chief executive officer of iSOFT’s Product Business.

Steve Graham, iSOFT’s chief operating officer, added, “The purpose of this benchmark was to confirm and evidence iSOFT’s ongoing ability to meet the changing needs of modern healthcare economies.”

The benchmark was based on industry standard hardware and software from various partner organisations. HP’s Proliant Intel Xeon MP (DL740 and DL580G2) and DP (DL360G3) based servers and EVA storage were used together with Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition. Mercury Load Runner software was used to simulate the desired significant workload on i.EPR.