Hot on the heel comes another Microsoft’s new venture, the releases of HealthVault platform. Health information related platform currently is the new darling of the Web community, Revolution Health launched in April, Google Health, codenamed as Weaver is also on the way.

HealthVault is launched with the jointly effort of nationally recognized medical providers, health-management device manufacturers and patient advocacy organizations. It is aimed at helping people better manage and access their health information in an online environment, and the first priority would be to bring the health and technology industries together to create new applications, services and connected devices. In the same spirit, HealthVault allowed users to control their own health information, and rather acted as a platform provider with responsibility for technology development. This contrast to the normal practices of clinics and hospitals where medical records were channeled to the medical doctors. Meanwhile, HealthVault was also supplemented by a pool of most relevant online health content that offered by HealthVault Search, a search service tightly integrated with Windows Live. The search queries entered by its users generally will lead them to HealthVault compatible solutions.

HealthVault was established with a simple focus, i.e. to empower people to lead healthy lives. There are several alternatives for HealthVault’s growth, one good example is the availability of HealthVault software development kit (SDK). Software developers interested in developing the third-party applications can visit the developer center where they can download the SDK, view documentation and share information among each other.