Interoperability allows telehealth equipment to interact to achieve predict
able results. To address the need for telehealth interoperability, the Albe
rta Research Council has been working with the Alberta Health and Wellness
organization in Canada, and others, to create guidelines and a facility for
testing telehealth equipment for compliance with technical interoperabilit
y standards. The laboratory consists of two rooms (7 m x 7 m) in a new buil
ding. The rooms are wired with easy-to-configure copper and fibre networks
for telephone, Switch-56, ISDN, ATM, wireless and satellite services. One r
oom specializes in teleconsultation and tele-education, while the other has
facilities for teleradiology and telemonitoring. The rooms are interconnec
ted in order to perform interoperability tests between realtime and store-a
nd-forward equipment. The laboratory was piloted in the summer of 1999.