ISoft has announced it will release a cloud edition of its Viaduct integration engine under its new cloud computing strategy.

The company has signed an agreement to run Viaduct on the IBM Smart Business Development and Test on the IBM Cloud.

ISoft says this will meet the growing demand for simple, low-cost integration by non-specialists by giving them access to a powerful, yet easy-to-use, integration tool on a “try-before-you-buy” basis.

Viaduct was originally designed to interoperate disparate healthcare IT systems and is a service-oriented, enterprise integration design studio that can run on any platform or any device.

It reduces the time, effort and skill required to integrate complex data structures and processes, with a simple drag-and-drop graphical interface, similar to a whiteboard.

Mike Jackman, iSoft’s EVP of worldwide solutions and operations, said: “This is not a replacement for the full Viaduct suite but an alternative channel to introduce a generation of developers to one of the strongest integration tools currently available.

“The application simplifies the integration process allowing people with no coding or expert knowledge to achieve interoperability with relative ease and at a fraction of the normal cost.”

The application can be downloaded at no cost for developers to design, build and test interfaces and iSoft plan to provide a full range of online and offline help and support features.

The application supports a range of protocols, including TCP, File, HTTP(S), WebServices, FTP(S), Email (SMTP, POP3 and IMAP), HL7, Database, JMS, and many others.