More German market success for Australia's iSOFT

Peter Dinham
Sunday, 21 June 2009 10:32

Business IT - Technology

iSOFT’s announcement of its latest German contract win for its Lorenzo software, coincides with a report by market analysts, Huntleys, who see ISF as a “growth stock suitable for risk-tolerant investors”, and a company that has “significant growth opportunities given committed spending by governments on healthcare IT infrastructure.”

“Scalability of ISF’s software means users are added at minimal cost. Its main product is in the early cycle of the rollout stage meaning business risk though with growth potential is high,”  Huntleys reports.

However, in a note of caution and a slight negative for iSOFT, Huntleys reports that the UK National Health Service (NHS) has voiced its concern over the implementation of its electronic health record software system.

According to Huntleys, the NHS set iSOFT and competitor Cerner a November deadline to deliver test versions and a fully functional version in at least one NHS hospital by March next year.

Huntleys says iSOFT’s Lorenzo platform is intended for 60% of all NHS hospitals and should generate revenue of $700m to the company over the term of the contract.

However, Huntleys says the NHS has said it will open up the process for other tenders if there are further delays, although it says it thinks this unlikely given funds committed and how far the project has gone, adding that there is no off-the -shelf program readily available and complexity of the platform requires significant development time.

Nevertheless, despite Huntleys’ caution, it says it believes the iSOFT “should meet the NHS’s deadline. Lorenzo is at its testing stage at one hospital with development completed.”