McKesson and Biscom Announce Technology Integration; MedDirect and FAXCOM Together Provide Fax Enabled Web-based Medication Order Communication System.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

HIMSS 2003 Annual Conference

CHELMSFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 18, 2003

At the HIMSS Healthcare Show last week, Biscom, a leading provider of enterprise fax management solutions, announced the integration of its FAXCOM technology with McKesson Automation's MedDirect(TM) system. McKesson Automation, a business unit of McKesson Corporation, is the leading provider of supply, information and care management products and services designed to reduce costs and improve quality across healthcare.

MedDirect is a Web-based medication order communication system that enhances the speed and accuracy of pharmacy orders between the nursing unit and the central pharmacy. Introduced by McKesson in June 2001, it provides an electronic image of the order that can be quickly expedited, tracked and retrieved. After customers voiced an interest in capturing faxes, McKesson evaluated the option of including a fax capture system for MedDirect. After a thorough search, McKesson selected the FAXCOM system to provide this solution.

The solution integrates MedDirect with a FAXCOM model 5100, a fax server scalable from eight to 24 fax channels. Specifically, MedDirect developers used the FAXCOM COM API to interface to a Windows fax service gateway running on the FAXCOM 5100. The FAXCOM COM API is a fax API that supports programming to standardized Windows programming environments. Developers thus can use Visual Basic, C/C++ or any other programming or scripting language that supports COM objects to write their own applications or simple macros. MedDirect is an integral part of a complete suite of hospital pharmacy automation products and services provided exclusively by McKesson Automation that includes ROBOT-Rx(TM), AcuDose-Rx(TM), Admin-Rx (TM), NarcStation(TM), PakPlus-Rx(SM), MedCarousel(TM) and Connect-Rx(TM).

"The integration of the FAXCOM system with MedDirect provides our customers with a choice that can't be offered by competitive systems," explained Bob Meek, McKesson Automation Director of Technical Product Management. "The combination of FAXCOM with MedDirect allows hospitals to take advantage of their existing fax technology investment, and capture faxes into a powerful electronic work flow and document management system."

Along with the patient privacy benefits inherent with the use of electronic faxing, the incorporation of FAXCOM with MedDirect provides nursing staffs an easy-to-use solution that integrates seamlessly into their existing hospital IT environment. Furthermore, the information communicated via the system may be archived to create a secure document repository for future reference.

"Biscom is very pleased that McKesson selected us as a technology provider for their MedDirect system," stated Neal McCann, VP of Sales, for Biscom, Inc. "Not only did our technologies come together seamlessly, but so has our business relationship. We look forward to mutual success in delivery of the fax enabled MedDirect solution."

About McKesson

McKesson Corporation, the 31st largest industrial company in the United States, is the leading provider of supply, information and care management products and services designed to reduce costs and improve quality across healthcare. McKesson solutions empower healthcare professionals with the tools they need to deliver care more effectively and efficiently. McKesson Automation Inc., a business unit of McKesson Corporation, is the market leader of new placements of pharmacy and supply automation solutions that help hospitals re-engineer and improve their medication use and supply management processes. These solutions are reducing medication errors and bringing new levels of safety to patients nationwide. More information about McKesson is available at www.mckesson.com.

About Biscom

Since 1986, Biscom has been widely recognized for its pioneering advances in the technology of enterprise fax management. Biscom provides software-based and complete turnkey information technology systems to some of the world's leading companies. The company's FAXCOM servers provide enterprise-wide solutions that are reliable, scalable and flexible.

In addition to its well-established leadership in the fax server market, Biscom is an innovator in new business communications technologies including: secure document delivery solutions through the acquisition of vVault (www.vVault.com), file conversion technologies through the Lincoln & Co. division (www.lincolnco.com) and Internet-based video surveillance applications through the WebEyeAlert division (www.webeyealert.com).