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IBM and Siemens Offer New Choices for Deployment of Medical Image Management Systems
Siemens deploys first Linux implementations of syngo® Imaging medical image management solution on IBM® eServer(tm) and IBM TotalStorage® technologies, delivering the benefits of Linux in healthcare.
IBM and Siemens Medical Solutions today announced a significant milestone in their collaboration to deliver innovative medical image management solutions.
Both companies understand the desire of healthcare providers to implement fully integrated RIS/PACS solutions, and to manage large volumes of digital medical images in the most cost-effective way based on standard IT infrastructures and processes. Building on their established reputations for technological innovation, since signing a global partnership agreement in May 2004, IBM and Siemens have been working together to deliver new implementation choices to support these objectives.
In April 2005, Siemens' integrated RIS/PACS system (now named syngo Workflow and syngo Imaging, core components of the syngo Suite) was deployed on a Linux platform for the first time at Hutchinson Hospital in Kansas. This was the culmination of a major design and development effort from IBM and Siemens, which started in September 2004. Over the past 6 months, Siemens and IBM have implemented over 20 similar solutions, including recent installations at a regional medical center in North Carolina and an imaging center in Georgia.
A seamless working relationship between the two companies in Siemens Erlangen development center helped ensure that the port of syngo Imaging to Linux running on IBM servers went very smoothly. In addition, IBM's Tivoli® Storage Manager was integrated into the solution to help manage the long-term storage of many types of medical images, across a wide range of IBM TotalStorage products. This increases choice for healthcare providers, and allows them to take advantage of the integrated functionality provided by syngo Imaging and syngo Workflow, combined with the low deployment costs, high reliability and outstanding performance of IBM Linux servers.
Dr. Edward "Ted" Hobart, Radiologist and Medical Director of Hutchinson Hospital's Radiology Department said, "The integrated RIS/PACS provides a single login to the RIS and PACS at the same workstation. The patient is selected in the RIS, and this automatically drives the PACS system to display the patient exams and images at the same workstation. Since all images are stored on IBM TotalStorage technology, access is very fast and straightforward. The integrated workflow between RIS and PACS produced an immediate gain in productivity."
Bob Lies, the CIO of Hutchinson Hospital remarked, "It was our vision to create an enterprise-wide RIS/PACS and to deploy such a system based on a common IT infrastructure. The resources in our IT department, including IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, will also be used to manage the storage of data from other departments. By choosing this approach we can benefit from economies of scale, and create a centralized, cross-departmental process for storage, backup and disaster recovery of all medical data."
Scott Cleare, Manager Worldwide Channel Sales Medical Imaging for IBM said, "This success marks the culmination of a truly collaborative project, and demonstrates that IBM and Siemens Medical have what it takes to innovate and deliver quality solutions together. It also shows that we can address the needs of those customers who are looking for a leading-edge RIS/PACS system delivered on a reliable Linux platform, with all the product excellence and high level of service associated with both Siemens and IBM." 01.12.2005, IBM Deutschland GmbH/IBM Germany
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