Tech looks to raise bets on healthcare

By Michael Kahn - Analysis

LONDON (Reuters) - An aging population, spiraling medical costs and increasingly poor service are spurring more computer firms to bet on healthcare and what many of them see as a lucrative -- but relatively untapped -- market.

Expectations for an overhaul of the U.S. health system following the election of Barack Obama as president and a desire of governments worldwide to drive costs of national health systems reinforce the belief that healthcare is an opportunity that tech companies underestimate at their own peril.

"Healthcare is a $2.5 trillion market in the United States alone," said Andrew Rocklin, an analyst at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, in the United States.

"Anybody who chooses not to participate could be giving up a potentially large amount of revenue."

That message is echoing through Silicon Valley and beyond, reaching companies with seemingly little or no immediate connection to the health field.

One example is chip-maker Intel Corp (INTC.O: Quote), which earlier this month introduced a monitoring system that allows doctors to check in on patients with chronic conditions like diabetes from remote locations.

The product is among the first to emerge from its digital health unit formed in 2000 to target new ways to get the company's chips into different products and look for other ways the company might compete in healthcare.

Intel has tried -- and failed -- in the past to offer branded products such as microscopes and music players containing its chips to ride growing trends to new profits.