It was bound to happen. With the U.S. government promising truckloads of cash to overhaul the U.S. health care system, while simultaneously making positive noises around open source, it was just a matter of time before someone connected the dots.
That someone appears to be Joanne Rohde, former executive vice president of worldwide operations at Red Hat, who has launched the Axial Project, a stealth-mode start-up that aims to "combin[e] the principles of Open Standards and Open Source...to connect all the parties in the Health ecosystem safely and securely."
It's a big task, but then, that's precisely what open source is good for tackling.
Indeed, as I've written before, the U.S. health care system, with its myriad of providers, insurers, etc. is ripe for open source. Open source isn't a panacea, but it has proved itself adept at resolving precisely this sort of complexity, with Linux and the various Apache projects as just two examples.
I've been talking with Rohde for at least a year now--most recently meeting for breakfast in Raleigh in April--and have enjoyed seeing her ideas germinate and flower. The company has gone through various guises (and names: as late as April, Rohde was calling the company EHRmail), and is now growing to meet the challenges ahead of it.
Axial has been quietly assembling a team of seasoned veterans from Rohde's Red Hat and UBS past, including Michael Yuan and John Casey, but most recently Matt Mattox, Red Hat's director of ISV alliances, who announced via e-mail his move to Axial:
(Credit:
Matt Asay)
Axial has not yet raised venture funding, but planned to raise its seed money through alternative avenues, at least as of my April conversation with Rohde. Given the company's mission--to build an integration tool kit around a message broker for health IT companies, universities, and corporations that allows sending and receiving of data across existing infrastructures--coupled with its open-source approach and roster of seasoned executives, I'm guessing funding won't be an issue.
The real issue is whether even open source is powerful enough to fix the U.S. health care system. Good luck to Mattox, Rohde, and the Axial Project team as you seek to answer that question in the affirmative.
Follow me on Twitter @mjasay.
People have been changing places within the open-source ranks of late, and I figured I'd note a few that have recently come to my attention:
- Charlie Martin, once of Ximian (Novell) and then MuleSource, has landed at Red Hat as Western Regional Sales Manager. Well done, mi amigo!
- Erica Brescia was recently named CEO at Bitrock, an upgrade on her former role as vice president of Business Development. Yes, I did try to hire her once. And yes, she did reject me :-) ;
- Martin Musierowicz became vice president of Alliances at Alfresco, changing from his previous role as senior director, Business Development. He hasn't treated me with respect since...
- Lars Nordwall, former vice president of Worldwide Sales at SugarCRM, left a few months ago. He has yet to land his new digs but has been talking with some great companies (If you're not already talking with him, it's probably going to be too late - sorry!).
There are others, of course, but these are the few that jumped to mind (as well as one or two, including a great new hire at Acquia, that I'm not sure I'm allowed to mention yet). Great people, great industry. It's what makes open source so enjoyable.
- prev
- 1
- next
