Continua Health Alliance Adds Major Communications Providers To Growing International Membership Roster

-- Mobile Leaders Recognize the Value of Continua Membership --

BEAVERTON, Ore., Dec. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Continua Health Alliance today announced that two major communications providers -- China Mobile and Verizon Enterprise Solutions -- have joined the Alliance, adding to a roster of mobile members, including ATT, KDDI, Korea Telecom (KT), NTT DOCOMO - Mobile, NTT, Orange, Telefonica, Telus and Vodafone, that are leading Continua's worldwide efforts to advance interoperability for mobile health devices and systems. Continua is an international non-profit multi-stakeholder group, and the leading organization convening global technology industry standards to develop end-to-end, plug-and-play connectivity for personal connected health.

"We are pleased to welcome our newest members to Continua and commend their commitment to personal connected health," said Clint McClellan, Continua Board President and Chairman. "Continua's mobile sector is growing substantially, as companies recognize the importance of our Design Guidelines to facilitate the interoperability and efficient use of smartphones and tablets for connected health."

"Our Design Guidelines include such new initiatives as Near Field Communications (NFC) in smartphones, the adoption of a RESTful style architecture to better engage app developers, and SMS-based shoulder-tap capability which can wake up a device in order to receive data."

Continua Design Guidelines support interoperability for mobile platforms and enable simple connectivity for data exchange between consumer devices such as smartphones, M2M modules and tablets, as well as services and systems used in personal connected health. The Guidelines specifically focus on plug-and-play connectivity across HUBs (a common connection point for devices in a network), LAN (local area network), PAN (personal area network) and WAN (wide area network) interfaces, and health records networks (HRNs). Continua certification indicates that a mobile device can communicate simply and securely with any other Continua certified product across networks as well as with HRNs.

"The time is right for mobile carriers to embrace plug-and-play design. Healthcare organizations are recognizing that they need access to mobile technologies to effectively and efficiently deliver healthcare, and Continua offers a solution that facilitates mobile health technologies," added McClellan. "The recent Grand Tour bicycle ride from Brussels to Barcelona organized by the GSMA, highlighting how type 1 diabetics can continually monitor their condition with smartphones and wireless sensors, is an excellent example of the important new capabilities available via mobile technologies."

For mobile health to succeed, personal connected health devices, smartphones and IT systems must have the capability to connect securely and with minimal user effort. Continua provides an end-to-end, plug-and-play solution to achieve seamless connectivity, and advocates for coordinated standards and regulation around the world so that companies can easily manufacture, connect, implement and operate on a global scale in the sphere of personal connected health.

Continua is actively engaged in partnerships with nine international standards bodies currently represented in the Design Guidelines. Certification according to Continua's Guidelines signifies compliance with global industry standards, facilitates data security, and is proven to decrease time to market and reduce development costs.

About Continua Health Alliance
Continua Health Alliance (Continua), an international not-for-profit industry group, is the leading organization convening global technology industry standards to develop end-to-end, plug-and-play connectivity for personal connected health. Continua is dedicated to the development of Design Guidelines and test tools to expedite the deployment of personal connected health devices and systems that will dramatically improve health management, clinical outcomes and quality of life. Personal connected health will empower information-driven health self-management and facilitate the incorporation of health and wellness into the day-to-day lives of consumers. Continua is a pioneer in establishing standards-based guidelines and security for connected health technologies such as tablets, smartphones, gateways and remote monitoring devices through its Guideline releases. The Alliance's activities include a certification and brand support program, events and collaborations to support technology and clinical innovation, and outreach to employers, payers, governments and care providers. With over 200 member companies reaching across the globe, Continua is comprised of technology, medical device and health care industry leaders and service providers dedicated to making personal connected health a reality. For more information visit: www.continuaalliance.org.