Assisted living system moves from Microsoft Azure to IBM Cloud

Karantis360, a startup which provides an internet of things-based assisted living system for care of the elderly or disabled, has moved from Microsoft Azure onto IBM Cloud due to slow login through the Microsoft cloud offering.

The assisted living system is designed to be used by care providers to better manage care plans and provide live updates to family members.

The company originally developed the service to run on Azure, but according to its founder, Nick Hampson, it experienced performance issues with Microsoft’s cloud service.

“Users logging into the Karantis360 portal via multiple devices would be locked out of the system. Another issue was that the solution was dependent on care notes from scheduled home visits, and therefore only provided a limited picture of a person’s wellbeing. We knew we needed a better approach,” he wrote in a blog post.

Hampson said Karantis360 decided to redevelop the system using IBM’s Cloud and Watson internet of things (IoT) technologies.

In the blog, Hampson wrote: “We were able to use sensors to gather real-time data about the living environments and physical behaviours of persons in care. By analysing this data and using machine learning to get to know a person’s routine, we could produce new levels of insight to help ensure their wellbeing.”

He said the system meant caregivers could be alerted to a fall or an accident, or incidents where a person in care did something out of character such as leaving the house at an unusual time of day, not sleeping at night, leaving the stove on, or not returning from the bathroom.

Care Response, a domiciliary care provider in southern England, has deployed the Karantis360 system. “Transparency, support and rapid intervention are essential for providing more independence and safety for the elderly,” said Care Response’s quality assurance manager, Paula Eagle. “With the Karantis360 assisted living system, people and their caregivers can have peace of mind that if things go wrong, help can be quickly at hand.”