NHS 'To Benefit From Agile Development' With Selection Of Open Source Database Riak For Spine2

The NHS has selected US developer Basho's open source database Riak to underpin its efforts to rebuild its Spine infrastructure.

The new project, dubbed Spine2, will replace the existing infrastructure that was implemented as part of the ill-fated NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT).

NPfIT was slammed by MPs this month for being the "worst and most expensive contracting fiasco in the history of the public sector".

One of the key criticisms of the NPfIT – which was scrapped but cost taxpayers nearly £10bn – was that there should have been an agile development methodology applied from the start.

The Department of Health is attempting to fix the issue by using open source software, which is more agile than proprietary technology.