Keane developed its own software called Threshold to run on any minicomputer using a UNIX operating system. This allowed Threshold to run on hardware from IBM, Wang, DEC, and others. Keane also pursued a strategy of both building its own applications for Threshold over time, and buying other healthcare IT vendors, primarily for their client bases and products. The next episode will discuss the series of IT vendors that Keane acquired in the late 1970s and 1980s.
2. Keane’s Indigenous Products
• This week we continue the story of Keane, looking at the series of
HIS products they developed internally, before next week, when
we start the convoluted tale of the many systems they acquired:
– PatCom, SDS, Ferranti, Infostat, LabFusion, First Coast, etc.
• When Ray Paris first joined Keane after they acquired Ray Kern’s
Innovations in Technology, their emphasis was on FM, Facilities
Management, just like Keane’s parent did so well through AMM.
• By the late 70s, however, the turnkey mini revolution was taking
off, and Keane wrote its own software for IBM System 3 minis.
• The IBM mini field was extremely crowded, however, with:
– John Sacco’s “JS Data” running on System 32 & 34 minis
– Dave Pommerance & Mitch Laskey’s Dynamic Control on Sys 38
– Intermountain Health Care’s MedSeries 4 running on Sys 34s
– Plus: HCS, AR/Mediquest, HIS, LeBlanc-Shexnayder, etc.
3. Creative Alternative…
• Being headquartered in Boston, Keane had a
number of local firms right in Massachusetts
manufacturing minis in competition with IBM,
one of whom had been formed back in the
1950s) by founders Drs. An Wang and G. Chu.
- They chose Dr. Wang’s name for their firm, and their engineering
prowess was far greater than their product naming ability…
• Wang first started out making calculators, all the
rage in the 60s, then switched to minis in the 70s.
• Word Processing became their hot niche, in this
era of typewriters and carbon paper, with their
introduction an “OIS” (Office Information System)
- Hard to imagine how daring this was in the
1970s, when only secretaries could type!
4. Hardware Options
• Keane started offering its HIS on the Wang
“VS” mini, which was introduced in 1977,
about the same time as DEC’s VAX line,
and both went toe-to-toe with IBM’s very
popular line of minis: Sys 34, 36, & 38
• Keane kept their IBM mini option, as well
as the Wang line, giving clients the option
of which platform they wanted, unlike
other vendors who made them choose.
• Soon, Ray Paris and Al Gottlieb, Keane’s
tech guru, came up with a better idea:
• Back in the 70s & 80s, most minicomputers
dictated the OS, DB and programming
language:
- IBM SYS 3X & AS/400 = RPG, DB2 and OS/400
5. Pick Your Poison…
• So a hospital DP Mgr
had to pick an HIS
system that
matched their
expertise:
• If you were a DEC
shop, you would
look at Meditech or
SMS’ ACTIon.
• If you were a DG
shop, you’d look at
Compucare or
Computer Synergy
• How did Wang rate?
Way down at #12
per this chart from
6. Threshold Of A Dream
• Ray & Al came up with a daring new concept:
offer an HIS that was hardware independent,
capable of running on any minicomputer!
• For an OS, they chose UNIX,
developed in 1969 by a group of
Bell Lab employees at AT&T.
• Although first developed in
assembly language and later
written in C, by the late ‘80s almost
every computer manufacturer had
their own version of UNIX:
- IBM = AIX, DEC = OSF-1, Sun
Micro = SunOS, Apple = A/UX…
- There were even different
“flavors,” such as Berkeley “BSD” vs
7. Threshold
• Keane named this new system
“Threshold,” and started working
on all the financial and clinical
apps needed for a complete HIS.
• So at one point in the 80s, besides
the Wang-based HIS, Keane could
install Threshold on any number
of different hardware platforms:
- IBM’s Series 3X minis
- Burroughs mainframes
- Data General “MV” series
- DEC’s line of VAXes
• Unfortunately, writing the
applications wasn’t nearly as easy
as supporting the hardware!
8. Build Versus Buy?
• Keane now faced the same dilemma
many hospitals faced back then:
– Building the entire suite of apps for an
HIS, which takes a very long time, or
– Buying them, a much faster route!
• So Keane used its parent company’s deep pockets to pursue both:
– Building Threshold one app at a time for those UNIX devotees
– Buying up a whole string of competitors, primarily for their
client bases, as well as some excellent products as well.
• Next week we start the story of the series of HIS vendors Keane
acquired, as told from the inside by many HIS-tory heroes like:
“As an ex-Ferranti employee (by way of Pentamation), I have to point out an error
in your Part 1 of Keane. Ferranti was founded by Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti, who
was born in Liverpool, England. He founded the company in about 1885 as a
British corporation (not Italian as I wrote). Although international in scope, it was
always a British company.” - Gary Pollock, Clark Memorial Hospital - 812.283.2686
• Thanks Gary; as Keane’s 90’s ad slogan went: “I didn’t know that!”
