Healthdirect Australia Sees Value In Open Source For Security Solution

Chief architect Bruce Haefele says it prefers to use open source as it relies on taxpayer funding

Commonwealth and state/territory government funded public company, Healthdirect Australia, has used open source software to build an identity and access management (IAM) solution.  The IAM solution allows users to have one identity across all of its websites and applications. For example, users can sign in using their Facebook, LinkedIn or Gmail account.  

Healthdirect Australia chief architect Bruce Haefele told Computerworld Australia that a single sign in is important as it runs a number of health advice websites such as pregnancy/baby care for new parents.  “We work with other partners in the [health] industry to make information available that is appropriate for Australians and meets health guidelines. It’s not as random as searching Doctor Google,” he joked.

Healthdirect Australia also operates a national health services directory of all the care provider organisations in Australia. This can be accessed on iPhone and Android devices so that people can look up health services on their phone. For example, consumers can type in their postcode to find out the location of their nearest late night pharmacy...