Features - Storage Innovations:

IBM LAUNCHES NEW SOLUTIONS FOR MEDICAL IMAGES, MEDICAL ARCHIVES

IBM announced two new information technology (IT) solutions designed to build on the power and performance of the Medical Assessment Workstation and the Medical Archive Solution. By offering services and technology for advanced imaging displays and enterprise-level scalability and flexibility, these updated solutions can help provide a means for advancing digital radiology, reducing costs and improving patient care.

The IBM Dual Monitor Display Medical Assessment Workstation II helps enable radiology departments and remote clinics enhance productivity with twice the viewing capacity, optimal software navigation and a cinematic 16 to 10 aspect ratio and 204 pixels per inch, allowing close scrutiny with fine-line accuracy. Critical components of the solution include IBM service and support, a three- year limited warranty, and:

• Two IBM IntelliStation T221 Flat Panel Monitors in either portrait or landscape.

• TFT LCD for wide-angle viewing in a space-saving design.

• A single AGP video card adapter with two dual link DVI connectors taking advantage of IBM's Dual Link capability.

• NVIDIA FX4000 non-proprietary video card designed to permit high performance 9.2 mega pixel resolution.

• IBM TFT LCD technology with TCO95 standards for low electromagnetic emissions, a polarizing anti-glare coating and HRSD for a more legible GUI features at maximum resolution.

"The combination of technology used in the Medical Assessment Workstation is intended to give the field of radiology the ability to view images much more clearly than ever before and make necessary comparisons for enhanced diagnoses," said Mike Svinte, vice president of the information-based medicine division at IBM. "By making it more cost-effective and space-efficient than IBM's earlier solutions, I believe it will change the face of healthcare -- because more clinics and radiology departments can adopt the technology and thus more patients can benefit from it."

The IBM Medical Archive Solution II runs on both Linux and AIX, using pSeries or xSeries, allowing healthcare providers to leverage their existing IT investments, minimize resources and manage storage networks and critical data. The pre-built and tested solution includes onsite installation, administrator training, post-installation support, and:

• IBM TotalStorage DS4000 storage server family including models for midrange computing and digital imaging workgroups.

• IBM LTO Ultrium tape family designed for exceptional performance of tape drives and small, medium and large tape automation systems.

• IBM Tivoli Storage Management software designed to protect from hardware failures with backup-and-archive copies in near-line and off-line storage.

• DB2 database software.

"Storage requirements to retain medical imaging data can become very substantial. Storage requirements can range from a few TBs for small medical treatment facilities to hundreds of TBs for large imaging centers," said Jamie Coffin, worldwide vice president of IBM Life Sciences Solutions. "We've updated this solution to further the long-term ability to store and retrieve image data, including PACS on a low cost device designed to help meet a center's requirements and that can grow with them over time."