CHICAGO – Comdisco announced this week at RSNA its entry into the digital image storage marketplace. Delivered through an application service provider (ASP) model, Comdisco’s pay-per-use storage and access management services are designed to provide hosted storage for digital images.
Comdisco can design, implement, manage, and host digital information storage for both primary and secondary storage applications, according to the Rosemont, IL-based firm. This service will be available to healthcare institutions with or without PACS.
In addition, Comdisco can set up redundant, protected, and managed off-site storage, ensuring continued availability to digital images without the need for additional hardware, according to the company. For those customers with pre-existing data, Comdisco will offer data migration services.
“If (a customer) had invested in storage, and were looking to become compliant with HIPAA, or they’re just concerned about having a backup to all the storage information, we could complement the existing infrastructure to provide a backup solution,” said Michael Kennedy, general manager for Comdisco Healthcare Group.
To store the image data, Comdisco can call on its worldwide network of 48 technology service centers, over 35 of which are in the U.S. Two of these centers will be used initially to store healthcare data, with more available as geographic or storage needs grow, Kennedy said.
Comdisco won’t be entering the storage outsourcing market on its own. In support of this initiative, the company has secured separate marketing relationships with PACS heavy hitters Agfa Medical Imaging, Siemens Medical Systems, and Mitra Imaging.
Comdisco and Siemens reported this week that they have completed a successful beta test of PACS-hosted storage services with the University of Kentucky Hospital. The site, a four-year Siemens PACS customer, now automatically transmits digital images from the Siemens PACS to Comdisco’s on-site enterprise access devices. The images are then replicated via a secured network to multiple Comdisco data centers, offering redundant storage, according to the company.
Comdisco is also working with Mitra to develop a “pre-PACS” feature, which will allow healthcare institutions to implement an image storage mechanism as a transitional step towards a full-fledged PACS network, according to Michael Gluth, vice president of marketing for Comdisco Healthcare Group. Even though an institution may still be operating in a film-based environment, this technology will allow clients to digitally capture and store images right at the imaging modalities, he said.
“It’s a great transitional step to build up priors and move towards selection and implementation of a PACS,” Gluth said.
Comdisco can design, implement, manage, and host digital information storage for both primary and secondary storage applications, according to the Rosemont, IL-based firm. This service will be available to healthcare institutions with or without PACS.
In addition, Comdisco can set up redundant, protected, and managed off-site storage, ensuring continued availability to digital images without the need for additional hardware, according to the company. For those customers with pre-existing data, Comdisco will offer data migration services.
“If (a customer) had invested in storage, and were looking to become compliant with HIPAA, or they’re just concerned about having a backup to all the storage information, we could complement the existing infrastructure to provide a backup solution,” said Michael Kennedy, general manager for Comdisco Healthcare Group.
To store the image data, Comdisco can call on its worldwide network of 48 technology service centers, over 35 of which are in the U.S. Two of these centers will be used initially to store healthcare data, with more available as geographic or storage needs grow, Kennedy said.
Comdisco won’t be entering the storage outsourcing market on its own. In support of this initiative, the company has secured separate marketing relationships with PACS heavy hitters Agfa Medical Imaging, Siemens Medical Systems, and Mitra Imaging.
Comdisco and Siemens reported this week that they have completed a successful beta test of PACS-hosted storage services with the University of Kentucky Hospital. The site, a four-year Siemens PACS customer, now automatically transmits digital images from the Siemens PACS to Comdisco’s on-site enterprise access devices. The images are then replicated via a secured network to multiple Comdisco data centers, offering redundant storage, according to the company.
Comdisco is also working with Mitra to develop a “pre-PACS” feature, which will allow healthcare institutions to implement an image storage mechanism as a transitional step towards a full-fledged PACS network, according to Michael Gluth, vice president of marketing for Comdisco Healthcare Group. Even though an institution may still be operating in a film-based environment, this technology will allow clients to digitally capture and store images right at the imaging modalities, he said.
“It’s a great transitional step to build up priors and move towards selection and implementation of a PACS,” Gluth said.
By Erik L. Ridley
AuntMinnie.com staff writer
November 28, 2000
Copyright © 2000 AuntMinnie.com
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