Microsoft to Acquire Medstory

Microsoft looks forward to enter health care market. One of its goals is a search engine that will provide useful medical information. This is why the company decided to buy Medstory Inc., the developer of Web-search technology that searches useful information on health. Microsoft did not disclose any details on Medstory acquisition.

Microsoft first thought about involving into health market when on-line health ventures started gaining traffic and receiving investments.

One of Medstory's investors, Esther Dyson, stated that Microsoft acquired some of the most progressive technologies in the fast developing medical search field.

Medstory's founder and chief executive, Dr. Alain T. Rapparot, outlined that he was impressed by the attention Microsoft pays to "intelligent search" in health care. He also hopes that the software corporation will boost the spread of technology developed by Medstory. Dr. Alain Rappaport will soon join Microsoft's team to become general manager of health search.

Microsoft's vice president for health strategy, Peter Neupert, stated that the acquisition of Medstory Inc. was the first step for the company to enter the health market. In 2006, before purchasing Medstory, Microsoft bought a software system for clinical health called Azyxxi. The software is used to search medical history of a certain person. It works with many sources and then quickly displays scanned documents, X-rays and ultrasound images of particular patient.

Mr. Neupert said that in the long-run the goal of health strategy is to link to the search engines personal information of patients, including: age, sex, drug regimes and family history. According to Microsoft's vice president for health strategy, the company will succeed in case the search results will be tailored individually, finding treatments and drug interactions, as well as medical journal articles of interest.

On October, 2006, Microsoft cited a study, made by the Pew Internet & American Life project. The study showed that about 8 million people in the U.S. use Internet on a daily basis to search for health information. It seems that health search engines are a new power that is not only about profit but will also be of use to Internet users.