Orange and Alcatel-Lucent have signed a cooperation agreement to address the healthcare challenges in Europe and emerging markets.

The two companies will develop and deliver innovative solutions enabling e-Health and enhanced assisted living with a focus on better serving patients and the elderly, increasing the efficiency of business processes for healthcare professionals, and reducing the cost of healthcare delivery.

With this announcement Orange and Alcatel-Lucent are leveraging their combined global expertise to provide solutions built upon reliable, future-proof communication networks to provide innovative e-health services of public and private health systems. Together they will harness their skills, knowledge, innovation and technology to develop services of quality for patients and healthcare professionals.

Orange currently provides solutions such as « Connected Hospitals » that simplify the work of medical teams by allowing access to patient information at the hospital and improving patient comfort. Similar solutions are also provided at the doctor’s office through solution for remote follow-up, online appointment booking, and services. This set of services, developed through Orange Labs’ skills and innovative capabilities, also enables patients to be monitored from the comfort of their homes instead of being hospitalized.

Alcatel-Lucent supplies its solutions to the heathcare providers - allowing them to improve patient care by eliminating information silos and, through its Telecare solutions, allow improved care of patients at home who suffer from chronic diseases. Leveraging a strong capacity for innovation through its Bell Labs research arm, Alcatel–Lucent is continuing to invest in the development of innovative healthcare solutions with partners such as the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre (UPMC) in the U.S. by putting the network in the core of the heath organization in order to facilitate access to quality care, safely, and allowing healthcare professionals to benefit from telemedicine contributions for their medical practice.