29. minis computer synergy part 2

“H.I.S.-tory”by Vince Ciotti

© 2011 H.I.S. Professionals, LLC

Episode # 29:

Computer Synergy

Part 2

Shared System Acquisitions• We left off last week with how shared systems were trying to

“keep up with the (turnkey mini) Joneses” by either building or buying competitive mini systems. On the “buy” side:– McAuto had very deep pockets thanks to its giant airplane

company parent, and bought a number of minis:• Skip Shippee’s “MSA” mini-based HIS out of NC,

programmed in the “Pick” operating system, running on:• Microdata minicomputers made in the UK, which McAuto’s

parent had bought earlier - talk about a “total solution!”• Mac also bought a number of ancillary dept. systems, eg:– LabCom = Dr. Hick’s “LSI,” a premier, large-hospital LIS

– SMS – hardly asleep, SMS started with the rights to HBO’s MedPro in the 70’s, eventually buying MedSeries4 in the 90’s,• But it’s 1980’s mini acquisition was Computer Synergy!

“The Spirit Choice”• In 1985, SMS acquired Computer

Synergy, but ran into a dilema:• The ACTIOn 1100 and 1500 lines

were, in a sense, competitors:– Running ADT, Order Entry, etc– Also on DEC VAX minis!

• What to do? Well , when in doubt, compromise, so SMS merged the two competing products into “The Spirit Choice,” using ACTion clinicals as the “front end” and Synergy apps as the financial “back-end” systems.

Round 2 in Malvern…• Sounded good on paper, but sold like “cold

cakes” as the two disparate systems required an interface “under the covers” and savvy MIS Directors (no “CIO”s back then…) saw through the charade…

• After a few frustrating years trying to get the marketing, programming teams and R&D plans in synch, SMS finally relented and went back to the original integrated Computer Synergy product and came up with a much better name as well:

• “The Spirit Choice” was a bit of a mouthful!

COLD!COLD!

Allegra• Now that name was more like it! – Hot, upbeat, positive, just like sales of this totally integrated

VAX-based HIS, with >100 sold by SMS’ superb sales team.

• And SMS’ Allegra had a leader as hot as the product:– Tom Tomlin, by the 1990s, SMS’ senior vice president and

general manager of the Turnkey Systems Division

• Tom ran a tight ship, and led the Allegra team well; I can still remember hearing his excellent shtick at a “Dog & Pony” show in Malvern in the 90s as our firm was including Allegra in system selections• Just one fly in the ointment…

Internecine Warfare• SMS ran into the same problem Baxter had with JS Data

(Alpha) competing with DCC (Delta) in the small hospital market – if you remember last week’s episode...

• Indeed, when we issued an RFI for one of our hospital clients, we were never sure what SMS would bid: – Allegra, MedSeries, Independence, ACTIon, Unity…– Indeed, they probably didn’t know either!

• Plus, the R&D costs to keep so many competing products up to date in the ever-changing world of Healthcare, let alone the imminent threat of Y2K…

• So the sad outcome was:

As the sun sets slowly in the west…• SMS stunned about 175 Allegra users with a sad letter announcing

the “sunset” of Allegra right around Y2K– A wise business decision, as re-writing the millions of lines of

COBOL code in SHAS alone would task any R&D team, let alone their myriad of other products like MedSeries4, ACTIon, etc.

– (Which leads one to appreciate the stunning name of “Sunrise” Eclipsys came up with for their successor product to TDS!)

• So what were the hundreds of Allegra clients going to do?• One of them was Virginia Beach General

Hospital, that had an excellent user department head who had mastered Computer Synergy so well, he left and formed his own computer company: • “Opry Consulting” – started in 1992

Rick Opry in the Nexus…• Rick saw an excellent opportunity and jumped right in:– Offering ongoing support and

ongoing maintenance to the many Allegra clients stuck between a ->

• Indeed, Opry Consulting picked up so manyAllegra clients (about 75 all told), he started writing a series of new “Sapphire” web-based apps for them programmed in Ruby & Java.

• In 2001, Rick purchased rights to the Allegra software from SMS, and re-named his company: “IntraNexus”• A bit of a tongue-twister, but then so was

Computer Synergy & The Spirit Choice! • IntraNexus grew to over 100 employees, and Rick prided himself in

the excellent personal touch of service & support he provided.

End of the Story?“VIRGINIA BEACH, VA --- April 1April 1, 2011 --- Quality

Systems Inc. (NasdaqGS: QSII) entered into an asset purchase agreement to acquire IntraNexus, Inc. for $4.9 million on April 1, 2011. The purchase price consisted of cash consideration of $3.3 million plus additional contingent consideration to be made over a three year period, not to exceed $1.7 million.”

• Quality Systems Inc. is the parent company of NextGen, the same firm that bought Opus clinicals & Sphere financials last year.• So how are they going to position Sapphire and these two small-

hospital products? Talk about an intra-nexus…• So there you have it: from Tom Culligan in San Fran in the 1970s,

through SMS in the 1980s, to Opry Consulting/IntraNexus in the 1090s, to NextGen in the 2000s – almost a mini-HIS-tory in itself!• And pieces still running in about 50 IntraNexus clients today!