KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, May 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has developed a robust nationwide cloud infrastructure for KPJ Healthcare Berhad, a leading private healthcare provider, to provide seamless healthcare services to more than 2.5 million patients annually.

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With a network of more than 20 hospitals in Malaysia and four hospitals along with an aged care facility overseas, KPJ Healthcare offers a comprehensive range of medical services. To overcome the growing operational, management and support issues, KPJ Healthcare engaged IBM to consolidate and centralize its computing infrastructure on a cloud.

IBM is delivering KPJ Healthcare's cloud deployment in a phased roll-out, starting with administrative data and medical records, to ensure a seamless and uninterrupted transition. As part of the engagement, IBM also built a disaster recovery system for KPJ Healthcare to ensure data protection and business continuity.

The implementation of cloud-ready, secured infrastructure has enabled KPJ Healthcare to provide better services to patients and their families. For example, patients can now expect shorter waiting times and hassle free services, when they visit the hospital. With an integrated network, patients are also able to access medical expertise and advice from across hospitals.

"At KPJ, our goal is to provide the most advanced healthcare services to our patients and to do that we need an IT infrastructure that supports integration and collaboration among our network of hospitals," said Tuan Haji Amiruddin Abdul Satar, President/Managing Director, KPJ Healthcare Berhad. "We engaged IBM because of their ability and proven track record of developing innovative cloud infrastructures for healthcare organizations across the globe. With the cloud solution, we are able to respond to our patients' needs faster and in a more effective manner."

Tuan Haji Amiruddin Abdul Satar added that the self-service access to information delivered through the cloud also reduced the complexity and streamlined operations. "By moving our IT infrastructure to the cloud, we are able to centrally deliver IT services to the hospitals nationwide in an efficient, reliable and secure manner," he said.

The new cloud-enabled infrastructure allows KPJ Healthcare to operate at a reduced cost and with greater efficiency, reliability and flexibility. It also ensures that KPJ Healthcare is able to roll out new applications at existing and new hospitals. The shift to the cloud will also complement the hospital's plan to establish themselves as a major regional player in healthcare services.

"We are excited to work with KPJ Healthcare and help them build a robust cloud infrastructure that not only makes their operations more efficient and cost effective but also improves the healthcare service delivery significantly," said Paul Moung, Managing Director, IBM Malaysia. "KPJ Healthcare's confidence in IBM's cloud computing capability is testament to the proven track record we have in delivering cloud computing solutions to meet a variety of client requirements."

About IBM Cloud Computing
IBM has helped more than 30,000 clients around the world with 40,000 industry experts. Since its acquisition in 2013, IBM SoftLayer has served 4,500 new cloud clients. Today, IBM has 100+ cloud SaaS solutions, thousands of experts with deep industry knowledge helping clients transform and a network of 40 data centers worldwide. Since 2007, IBM has invested more than $7 billion in 17 acquisitions to accelerate its cloud initiatives and build a high value cloud portfolio. IBM holds 1,560 cloud patents focused on driving innovation. In fact, IBM for the 21st consecutive year topped the annual list of US patent leaders. IBM processes more than 5.5M client transactions daily through IBM's public cloud. For more information about cloud offerings from IBM, visit http://www.ibm.com/cloud. Follow us on Twitter at @IBMcloud and on our blog at http://www.thoughtsoncloud.com. Join the conversation #ibmcloud.

About KPJ Healthcare Berhad
KPJ Healthcare Berhad is the leading home grown healthcare group in Malaysia listed on the Main Board of Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. The group has become the country's largest private healthcare group, operating more than 20 hospitals locally with two hospitals in Indonesia and a retirement and age-care resort in Australia, a sizeable share in a hospital in Bangkok, and managing a hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

KPJ today has more than 1,000 medical specialists and more than 10,000 employees, providing a range of services encompassing curative, promotive and preventive care. The KPJ Group also has its own KPJ Healthcare University College (KPJUC), the first Malaysian private higher education institution approved to offer post graduate medical programmes.

About IBM
For more information about IBM, please go to www.ibm.com.my

Media contacts:
Pn Rafeah Ariffin
Senior General Manager
Group Marketing & Corporate Communications
KPJ Healthcare Berhad
M: +6016-233-0678
E: rafeah@kpjhealth.com.my

Anita Devasahayam
Communications Manager
IBM Malaysia
M:+6012-2770568
E: anita@my.ibm.com

Nicholas Smith
IBM Communications
978 869 0870
nssmith@us.ibm.com

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SOURCE IBM

SOURCE: IBM