Enabling Cloud-based, Secure, Global Connectivity

Proximie’s power to capture, store and generate insights using AI to analyse holistic, context-rich operating room data can be deployed exponentially and securely throughout the world, creating the potential to deliver a real and tangible shift towards our shared goal of ending healthcare inequality. ‍

Proximie’s cloud-based platform seamlessly connects people, systems, and devices, enabling safe and real-time information flow in and out of the OR. From remote access and surgical training to improving productivity and optimising workflow, Proximie transforms operating rooms into fully connected ecosystems worldwide. All data shared through Proximie is completely secure, reliable and readily available. By capturing ambient video and audio of the OR, Proximie provides a comprehensive record of interactions and events throughout the operating day - a single, transparent overview that can be used to paint the truest and most objective view of an OR’s performance. 

“All data shared through Proximie is completely secure, reliable and readily available.”

Proximie enables video data to be rapidly routed to any participant anywhere in the world, which is difficult if not impossible to do without a cloud presence. At the same time, the cloud makes it possible to minimise the footprint of hardware in the OR, meaning that Proximie can run through a browser on any available internet-connected device - so Proximie can be deployed at a moment’s notice, even in hard-to-reach areas. 

“You know you have a successful cloud-based implementation when users forget that it’s the cloud,” says Richard Carter, Proximie Chief Technology Officer. “If people ‘see’ a lot of cloud technology, then it likely doesn’t meet a user’s needs. With Proximie, you can start a session in less than a minute - but under the covers, there’s a massive amount that’s happening.

“With Proximie, you can start a session in less than a minute - but under the covers, there’s a massive amount that’s happening.”

“However, the user remains completely unaware that - in a data centre that’s appropriate for where they’re doing a case - dedicated computer capacity is being allocated in real time. All the user sees is that the platform works and they can get on with their job. That would be basically impossible in an on-premise deployment, where there’s rarely enough idle computer capacity to be able to work in this way.”

The same is true for users accessing videos stored in Proximie’s video library application, where all content is equally accessible to viewers regardless of where an individual video may be physically stored in the world. To date, Proximie’s archive encompasses more than 100,000 hours of high quality video, audio and device data stored on its platform. This rich tapestry of surgical performance data can be used to highlight anything from OR utilisation, downtime and turnaround times, instrument table setup, while gaining detailed insight into what is happening within every corner of the OR. Crucially though, this significant resource of information and data that can be leveraged before, during and after surgery, can be accessed with the correct security permissions seamlessly. 

“You may have permissions to see videos hosted in both the EU and US,” says Richard, “and even though they’re stored in different locations, they’re presented to the user with a single seamless experience.”

“You may have permissions to see videos hosted in both the EU and US,” says Richard, “and even though they’re stored in different locations, they’re presented to the user with a single seamless experience.”

As much as it’s vital that the powerful functionality of the cloud remain essentially invisible to the end user - that the cloud-based elements be so perfectly integrated that they are ‘forgotten’ - it is equally important that the platform’s security be beyond reproach, and never a matter of conscious concern for users. 

“Cloud-based computing is an ever-changing landscape, and each public cloud provider has its own strengths,” says Richard. “AWS, Proximie’s cloud-provider, is very well-known and has robust infrastructure that is highly oriented to efficiency and security – two aspects that are of paramount importance to Proximie.

“Meanwhile, for our part, Proximie ensures security by developing software to the highest security standards with regular external simulated attacks. We use extensive tooling - both our own and that of AWS - to detect unusual network activity, and we follow security best practices rigorously. Proximie’s platform team – the team that looks after our physical infrastructure and implements many of the security measures – are right up there among the very best. On top of that, we regularly use third party penetration testers to aggressively test our security.”

From the outset, Proximie has been designed and built with accessibility in mind. It can be used in any corner of the world, in any clinical setting, because quite simply it has to in order to help make a meaningful impact in the drive towards health equality. 

“Tackling health inequality is core to our mission,” says Richard. “It’s through that lens that our platform has been built and our cloud-based implementation and structure has been a central protagonist in facilitating the accessibility and usability of Proximie, all around the world.” 

To discover why Proximie’s power lies in the cloud, click here.