Sun Microsystems' open-source software is one of the key components of the NHIN-Connect, the gateway that has enabled multiple federal agencies and private-public organizations to communicate across platforms.

The NHIN-Connect's release to the public by the Department of Health and Human Services underscores the collaborative nature and the community project of the Nationwide Health Information Network, said Joe Hartley, Sun's vice president of global government, education and healthcare.

"This is a community model of Sun's open-source adoption strategy," he said. Sun provides the underlying tools and communities customize the tools to achieve health information exchange among their stakeholders, which improves the quality of care and reduces the cost of care.

The Federal Health Architecture (FHA), which coordinates the federal efforts for national healthcare IT initiatives under the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology, oversaw the NHIN-Connect initiative, The FHA wanted to leverage the open-source communities whenever possible, with the goal of making the solution freely available. The FHA also wanted the solution to support four operating systems, namely Windows, Linux, Solaris and mainframe.

It makes sense for the government to be paying for the concept and the underlying tools, and then putting the solution out into the public domain, Hartley said.

The next move for the NHIN-Connect project is to bring on board the rest of the 26 federal agencies within the ONC group, said Casey Palowitch, business development director for Sun Microsystems' global government, education and healthcare.