Cloud
Commerce
Varian Medical Systems
Innovative Cancer Fighting Solutions
A custom federated identity management system with Microsoft Azure
Terrace designs and develops a custom Federated Identity Authentication System for Varian Medical Systems.
Before releasing Varian Medical System’s new generation oncology patient management system and the very first comprehensive software platform for coordinating cancer care, Varian needed to optimize their previously used secure user authentication system.
The new system would need to ensure 1) the secure identity management and verification properties of Varian’s proprietary system and 2) a seamless flow of tokenized information between Varian’s systems and databases and all other user and third-party provider systems and devices.
With their legacy software in hospitals worldwide, they needed a robust system to protect all user information, including all patients’ personal health care information (PHI data) shared on the system.
Varian had considered other consultants, but once connected with Terrace, Gunther Lenz, Director of OCS Technology Office at Varian noted, “We were impressed with the knowledge Terrace showed even in that first design session. It became very apparent that it would be a huge help to get their expertise to help our journey towards Azure or with technical problems.”
Project
Varian Medical Systems
Challenge
The Varian 360 Oncology™ software required an internal authentication mechanism that would enable secure and efficient sharing of care management, clinic data, records, and patient information with cancer-patient care management teams.
They needed a flexible way to integrate their proprietary authentication mechanism with a cloud based Microsoft Azure Active Directory Service to ensure that authentication flowed smoothly between the different components within their proprietary system and with other external systems.
Solution
Custom cloud-based Federated Identity Management System built on the Microsoft Azure Cloud (ADFS) to facilitate the integration of 360 Oncology with associated patients and third-party providers.
Technologies
Azure, Microsoft
“Terrace got what we wanted to achieve. They understood our problem. They weren’t just trying to sell us more services, but rather really got the problem and tried to solve the problem together with us, providing us with the best solution for the problem we had. That was really great and we really appreciated it.”
– Gunther Lenz
Director of OCS Technology Office,
Varian Medical Systems
About Varian Medical Systems
Varian Medical Systems’ mission is to focus energy on saving lives. To meet this challenge, Varian equips the world with new tools for fighting cancer. Since the 1950s Varian has been producing tools that harness the power of X-ray energy to benefit humankind. Varian’s history is one of pioneering developments in the fields of radiotherapy, radiosurgery, X-ray tube technology, digital image detectors, cargo screening, and non-destructive testing.
The Terrace Process
1
Listening
Terrace starts every project with a thorough understanding of business objectives and technical requirements.
2
Designing
Leveraging a wide repertoire of platforms and tools, Terrace architects use technologies tailored to your business.
3
Building
Terrace’s hand-picked team of engineers are among the finest in the industry – well-versed in the latest best practices and dedicated to an efficient and timely development process.
Terrace + Varian
Strategic Rollout
The Microsoft Azure team introduced Varian to Terrace. Varian selected Terrace during their first architecture and design session, feeling most comfortable with Terrace’s expertise and ability to design a solution.
- Varian wanted to leverage the flexible, authentication mechanisms of customer systems, like Active Directory, with that of their own proprietary system. The Varian team wanted a New World Integration System. Terrace would need to make sure authentication flowed nicely between the different components in the system and that it was “future proof” to upcoming features from Microsoft.
- The Federated Authentication System would be an integral part of 360 Oncology, designed to bring the data of patients to the places needed at the time needed. It would be accessed from the web and mobile networks across the globe and would be the first thing users would experience in logging in. So access to patient care information would need to be efficient and convenient.
- Terrace designed a system that would ensure a smooth, seamless customer experience from the first moment they logged in, whether they accessed the system from EMRs (electronic medical records) or from other health care systems.
Results
The Federated Identity Authentication System is an integral piece of the system. Terrace helped Varian create a smooth experience between the systems.
“This is a product for customers. All Terrace’s work may not be visible. All the complexities are taken care of in the back end. The advantage for the customer is if they have a health information system, another EMR, or any other system, we can seamlessly integrate that with the same authentication mechanism they are already using. That is really the benefit! For the customers, it’s all behind the scenes. They just know that suddenly everything works together nicely with just one login. That is the cool part.”
– Gunther Lenz
Director of OCS Technology Office,
Varian Medical Systems
Varian and Varian Medical Systems are registered trademarks.
360 Oncology™ is a trademark of Varian Medical Systems Inc.
