Merge Technologies of Milwaukee has signed OEM agreements with Philips and Toshiba for supply of its digital medical imaging interface technology, according to Stuart C. Gardner, vice president of sales and marketing. Merge will customize interfaces for Philips and Toshiba, enabling users to connect their scanners to equipment made by other vendors.
Merge translates the proprietary image data inside scanners into its own ACR/NEMA-based Mergecom output. Mergecom is an open protocol that runs on standard networks, such as ethernet or token ring.
Merge signs nondisclosure agreements, which allows it access inside scanners without the OEMs having to disclose their proprietary protocols to the competition.
The two new vendor relationships round out what has been a general acceptance by scanner vendors of Merge's product concept, Gardner said. The firm also works with Siemens, AT&T, Picker and Hitachi. GE Medical Systems, the largest imaging equipment supplier, is a hold-out, however.
GE has taken the position that it will connect to other imaging systems only via its ACR/NEMA 50-pin connector, which the vendor has not yet delivered, Gardner said.
While GE's stance can be considered a vote of confidence for the long-awaited ACR/NEMA interface standard, implementation of the connector will allow GE to withhold certain image data from networks linking the equipment of various vendors, he said.
"It (ACR/NEMA) is a nebulous standard. It can be interpreted in many ways. People are only now beginning to learn what the shadow groups are within the ACR/NEMA standard," Gardner said.
Shadow groups allow vendors to block certain data from being revealed through implementation of the ACR/NEMA standard. Such data include slice thickness and T2 times in magnetic resonance imaging. Information on slice thickness is needed in three-dimensional reconstruction of image data, he said.
"Just because one vendor puts out a 50-pin plug does not mean all imaging information is going to be transmitted out of that 50-pin plug. One benefit of the Merge interface is that all the imaging information is disclosed to us. There are no shadow groups in Mergecom," Gardner said.
BRIEFLY NOTED: Du Pont and 3M have signed agreements to cooperate in the supply of x-ray film products. The companies declared their intention to cooperate at the 1990 Radiological Society of North America meeting last November (SCAN 12/12/90).
The two film vendors will divide responsibilities for manufacturing specific medical film products, which will be sold in select worldwide markets by both companies under their respective labels. Sharing technical resources will minimize the cost and time to bring new products to market, according to a joint statement by Robert Harms, division vice president of 3M's medical imaging business and Jerome Smith, vice president and general manager of Du Pont's diagnostic imaging business.
Cooperation in manufacturing is only the first step of the new strategic alliance, the two imaging executives said. Future steps were not specified.
Biosound, the Indianapolis cardiovascular ultrasound supplier purchased last year by Esaote (SCAN 8/15/90), has been given an option to distribute future Endosonics products in the U.S. Biosound had signed an exclusive U.S. distribution agreement for intraluminal products developed by Intertherapy of Costa Mesa, CA, prior to becoming a wholly owned Esaote subsidiary. That agreement was terminated late last year, according to Gerald A. Richardson, Biosound president.
