IMS Microsoft Health CVDI

Two more players in the world of Big Data have joined Drexel University’s National Academy of Science Center for Visual and Decision Informatics. IMS Health, a leading global provider of information, technology and services dedicated to making healthcare perform better; and Microsoft Research,one of the largest software research organizations in the world, will both be part of the growing CVDI partnership.

This new collaboration will support the CVDI’s efforts to develop visual and decision-support tools and techniques that fundamentally improve the way information is interpreted and analyzed in the science, technology and medical sectors.

The CVDI is a cooperative enterprise among Drexel’s iSchool, College of Information Science and Technology , University of Lafayette’s School of Computing and Informatics (UL Lafayette) and the National Science Foundation that strives to solve the country’s most pressing Big Data challenges. The institute, which marked its first-year anniversary in February, is funded by the Industry/University Cooperative Research Center program of the NSF, members from industry and government, and university matching funds.

“With just one year of important research underway, the CVDI has quickly solidified Philadelphia’s stake in creating innovative solutions to the world’s largest Big Data challenges,” said Dean of the iSchool at Drexel Dr. David Fenske. “With IMS Health and Microsoft Research as members of the CVDI at Drexel, the city of Philadelphia is now positioned to extend its lead in visual and decision science research.”

IMS Health and Microsoft join the ranks of other CVDI members including: the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Elsevier, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, SunGard Availability Services LP and Thomson Reuters, among others.

“The CVDI is an excellent partnership that brings governmental and commercial partners to the table to focus on key areas of big data analytics and visualization for use in such fields as social media analysis, real-time monitoring and healthcare decision informatics,” said Alex Wade, principal program manager, Microsoft Research. “The iSchool at Drexel University and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette bring significant expertise to these research areas and Microsoft Research is pleased to be involved in this effort and to participate in moving the state of the art forward in these emerging and highly valuable domains of real-time data analysis.”

“At IMS Health, we address the challenges of Big Data, processing 39 billion healthcare transactions annually and storing more than 17.5 petabytes of data,” said Director of Technology Innovation, Global Technology Services & Operations for IMS Health Dr. Andrei Stoica. “The advances in cloud technologies and new data sources represent strategic investments in technology and infrastructure for IMS. Working with CVDI and Drexel University will enable research in Big Data processing, visualization and analytics, with applications for pressing industry challenges. In the next ten years, successful companies will have one common denominator – an ability to transform Big Data and technology into meaningful value for clients.”

For more information about Drexel University and University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Center for Visual and Decision Informatics (CVDI), visit: http://nsf-cvdi.louisiana.edu.

About Microsoft Research

Founded in 1991, Microsoft Research is dedicated to conducting both basic and applied research in computer science and software engineering. More than 850 Ph.D. researchers focus on more than 55 areas of computing and openly collaborate with leading academic, government and industry researchers to advance the state of the art of computing, help fuel the long-term growth of Microsoft and its products, and solve some of the world’s toughest problems through technological innovation. Microsoft Research has expanded over the years to seven countries worldwide and brings together the best minds in computer science to advance a research agenda based on an array of unique talents and interests. Microsoft Research operates in Redmond, Wash.; Cambridge, Mass.; New York City; Mountain View, Calif.; Cambridge, U.K.; Beijing; and Bangalore, India; and conducts research at Advanced Technology Labs Cairo; Advanced Technology Labs Europe in Aachen, Germany; Advanced Technology Labs Israel; FUSE Labs in Redmond; the eXtreme Computing Group in Redmond; and Station Q in Santa Barbara, Calif. More information can be found at http://research.microsoft.com.

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About IMS Health

IMS Health is a leading worldwide provider of information, technology and services dedicated to making healthcare perform better. With a global technology infrastructure and unique combination of real-world evidence, advanced analytics and proprietary software platforms, IMS Health connects knowledge across all aspects of healthcare to help clients improve patient outcomes and operate more efficiently. The company’s expert resources draw on data from nearly 100,000 suppliers, and on insights from 39 billion healthcare transactions processed annually, to serve more than 5,000 healthcare clients globally. Customers include pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer health manufacturers and distributors, providers, payers, government agencies, policymakers, researchers and the financial community. Additional information is available at www.imshealth.com.