Intel is going to great lengths to break into the healthcare market with the launch of a device for patient monitoring in the home.

For the first time, the world's biggest chipmaker will offer a complete package - providing the hardware, software, IT infrastructure and consulting services that support its Intel Health Guide device.

The machine has the capabilities of a touch-screen laptop and allows patients to attach peripherals such as blood pressure monitors, weight scales and glucose meters. Data can be studied by a healthcare professional in a remote location and physicians can conduct video-conferencing consultations through the device.

Intel plans pilot studies of its uses with healthcare organisations such as Aetna and Erickson Retirement Communities in the US.

"It is unprecedented, but we have to be able to deliver all of the pieces, a [health] insurance company wants an end-to-end solution," Louis Burns, head of Intel's Digital Health division, told a media briefing.

The Health Guide is the most significant product to emerge from his division, formed in 2005 to exploit what Intel sees as an emerging market that could be worth billions of dollars to the Silicon Valley company.

"There's six trillion dollars spent a year around the world on healthcare and some would suggest two trillion of that is waste. I would suggest that's somebody's business, so it's a huge market," said Mr Burns.

But Intel has made few inroads to date. "Healthcare today is largely a mainframe model," said Eric Dishman, director of product research, comparing the industry's status with that of computers 30 years ago.

"Now it's commonplace for us to have personal computing technology on a wide range of devices. That transformation needs to happen in healthcare."

Health Industry Insights, an IDC company, says Intel has emerged as a leader in healthcare IT innovation, creating the Continua Health Alliance, with more than 160 organisations trying to bring interoperability between devices.

The Health Guide will work with a wide range of products offered by Continua members, making it the "first tangible evidence of the value of the Alliance's efforts", according to an Insights report.