To an ever-expanding array of healthcare offerings, Microsoft has added some glue.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is enhancing the speed and security of its healthcare platform with the acquisition of Sentillion, Inc., a provider of context management and single sign-on technologies for healthcare providers.

Microsoft plans to incorporate Sentillion’s technology into its Amalga Unified Information System (UIS), a real-time data aggregation platform being used by more than 115 hospitals around the nation. Company officials say the integration will allow clinicians and other healthcare providers to work more quickly and efficiently through their IT systems.

“We’re in the glue business,” said Sentillion CEO Robert Seliger. “We’re gluing stuff together to create value.”

Sentillion, based in Andover, Mass., made its name in access management and has been working with Microsoft to provide security for Amalga and Microsoft’s HealthVault platform. But Seliger says the company offers more than just security. “We really are a workflow tool,” he said.

To that end, Peter Neupert, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Health Solutions Group, said the goal of the purchase is to “lower the barriers and lower the costs,” both of which are key to the adoption of healthcare IT envisioned in President Barack Obama’s push for healthcare reform.

“Our goal is to enable new workflows,” he said. “This helps us in our goal to improve healthcare across the continuum of care.”

Sentillion will continue to sell and support its products and operate out of its Andover headquarters, company officials said, while Microsoft “invests in the long-term evolution of the combined portfolio of Sentillion and Microsoft health solutions.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Microsoft and Sentillion share a vision of a connected health system in which the free and rapid flow of information, coupled with streamlined access to a hospital’s myriad healthcare applications, empowers doctors and nurses to perform their roles with greater insight, speed and effectiveness,” said Neupert in a Dec. 10 press release announcing the deal. “As a result, our products and strategies are a natural fit. Joining efforts with Sentillion will allow us to amplify and accelerate the impact we can make in health IT and health globally.”

 “We’re excited to build on the powerful foundation we have built over the past decade in product development, sales and marketing, customer relationships and execution excellence,” added Seliger. “With its commitment to improving health and the global resources it brings to bear, Microsoft is the perfect partner to expand our efforts worldwide.”