united nations news from FierceHealthIT

Never shy about taking on new markets, Red Hat has struck a deal with the University of North Carolina under which it will encourage the use of open source technology in healthcare research, biotechnology, bioinformatics and public policy. The deal follows a larger announcement by Red Hat in which it launched its Enterprise Healthcare Platform in cooperation with McKesson and Intel. …

While open source camps and Microsoft have always competed for mindshare in the health IT world, the battle hit a new level of intensity last week when Microsoft and open source promoters floated their new proposals for the future of the industry. Last week, for example, Linux distributor Red Hat announced that it would partner with McKesson to mount McKesson on Linux and JBoss software. The deal should give Red Hat--and Linux--an impressive foothold in the health IT industry overnight, …

A group of California-based foundation executives expect to turn their regional health information network software into an open-source product by early 2007, in hopes that they'll help foster RHIO development nationwide. Officials at the California HealthCare Foundation had spent $20 million to build the software running the Santa Barbara County Data Exchange. Foundation officials, who spoke at a Washington, DC-area health information conference this week, said it would cost around …