Amplion Clinical Communications
Amplion Clinical Communications/Dalcon International[edit]
Amplion Clinical Communications is a medical device/technology company headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee that manufactures Amplion Alert, a Care Assurance Platform combining advanced nurse call capabilities, care collaboration tools, alarm management, reporting and data analytics in a single system to track, manage and confirm care delivery for hospital inpatients.
Amplion's predecessor company, Dalcon International, Inc. was founded by David L. Condra in 1978, and incorporated in 1979 in Nashville Tennessee. The company initially did business as Nashville Computer Center, subsequently changed the DBA to Dalcon Computer Systems in 1981.
The product focus of the company was business computer systems designed to meet the needs of small businesses. As an indication of how early Dalcon was in the Nashville market, it was the first company to be listed under the then new Nashville Yellow Pages listing, “Computers”.
Although personal computers were just coming into businesses for use by individuals, Dalcon’s focus was on systems to run an entire small company, which required multiple simultaneous users accessing a common database, which was not then supported by personal computers. Consequently, Dalcon based its solutions on the Alpha Micro, which enabled the development of multi-user application software such as would be required for a business that had a number of people needing to access common data, such as Order processing, Inventory Billing, Accounts Receivable, Payable, Payroll, General Ledger. This allowed the Alpha Micro to compete with Minicomputers of the time such as DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation), DG (Data General), Wang, and IBM System 34/36, at a cost often 80-90% less than those Minicomputers.
During the early 80s Dalcon grew rapidly as a developer of solutions for wholesale distributors and medical clinics. In 1985 it was ranked #330 on the INC 500 list of fastest growing companies in America.
In 1986 Dalcon acquired its local competitor, the Basic Four division of Endata, and became the distributor of Basic Four computers in the region, primarily expanding its base of wholesale distribution customers.
In 1986, Dalcon created a new subsidiary, Dalcon Desktop Systems. This division was focused on providing Apple Macintosh-based pre-press graphic and layout systems to publishers such as newspapers, magazines, and other print content producers. As such, Dalcon became the first authorized dealer of Macintosh products in the country that was not a retail computer store. In addition to Macintosh and Compugraphic imagesetters it sold, the company also provided proprietary software, consulting services and training in the use of the systems and software allowing use of Macintosh for pre-press work.
In 1988 Dalcon introduced its ICIS (Imaging Center Information System) for the fast growing new industry of Outpatient Diagnostic Imaging Centers which were being rapidly built around the country. Over the next ten years, ICIS became the dominant enterprise software for imaging centers with over a third of the US market. Dalcon sold that division of the company to Medical Resources Inc, in 1998.
During the period from 1992 to 1994 Dalcon joined forces with Zortec to pursue an open-systems initiative in the world of 4GL languages to jointly develop and market the language System Z.
In the early 90s Dalcon moved its technology from proprietary computer systems like Alpha Micro and Basic Four to open systems based on the UNIX operating system, and PC networks and continued to focus its efforts on wholesale distribution and imaging centers.
In 2006 Dalcon sold its wholesale distribution systems business to focus exclusively on the new and rapid growth technology VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Again building on open systems technology, it developed and marketed a complete VOIP system based on UNIX and Asterisk. Dalcon continued to expand its market with this product into Hospitals in 2009 where it provided specialized VOIP phone systems for healthcare, including wireless phones for nurses integrated into the system for voice and messaging.
In 2010 Dalcon introduced its Dalcon Alert product. A proprietary device that installed in patient rooms to provide specialized communication of medical device alarms and care reminders to the nurse wireless phones. As interest and demand for this product grew, Dalcon elected to focus exclusively on communication in hospitals and its Dalcon Alert product and in 2012 rebranded the product and changed the company name to Amplion.
In 2015 Amplion expanded its Amplion Alert product to encompass complete Nurse Call system functionality and received its UL 1069 listing for Nurse Call in June of 2015.
External Links
Dalcon changes its name to Amplion. https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2012/11/12/dalcon-communications-systems-rebrands.html https://tennessean.newspapers.com/image/105246029/?terms=dalcon Internet Telephony Magazine Product of the year award Links/References about ICIS http://www.diagnosticimaging.com/imaging-center/efficiency-requirements-bring-centers-together Dalcon rebrands as Amplion https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2012/11/12/dalcon-communications-systems-rebrands.html 1. Nashville Tennessean, 7/12/87 Dalcon adds Apple Macintosh 2. Nashville Tennessean, 11/19/85 Dalcon Named to Inc 500
Submission for 2nd Review[edit]
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