R&D into computed tomography is racing forward at breakneck speed. GE, Siemens, Philips, Marconi, and Toshiba are developing CT scanners that will generate 16 slices with each turn of the gantry, an enormous leap from the current quad-slice

Just days after introducing its new entry-level CT scanner, Somatom Smile, Siemens Medical Systems sold three units. Remarkably, the new product was bought-in fact, can only be bought-over the Internet. Traditional sales would be too costly.The

After a brief hiatus from the radiology industry, Lothar Koob is back. Koob, who served a stint as president and CEO of Humphrey Systems, has joined Analogic. In his new position as Analogic executive vice president, Koob will be second in command to the

A portable, scalable, and fault-tolerant PACS controller was the highlight of an infoRAD exhibit at November's RSNA show. Known as a resilient continuous availability server, RCAS features three identical Unix machines running copies of the same

Manufacturers are exploring new capabilities and novel technologies that promise to bring down long-standing MRI performance barriers and improve patient comfort. This modality, which for so long has been characterized by field strength, is redefining

The CT industry is firmly focused on the future. Companies are looking sometimes years ahead when setting a time frame for clinical applications and technological capabilities. That the future looks bright for CT was underscored at the RSNA show by

It was clear from the 2000 RSNA show that the structure of the imaging industry is changing. In fact, as is typical of a maturing industry, consolidation has emerged as the new business model. While the clear direction of CT and MR technology is

While some competitors are restructuring or even selling their holdings in radiography and R&F, Siemens Medical Systems has been expanding its line of these products. The German company has quietly assembled a range of advanced products that address

Dan Kerpelman has been appointed general manager of the global diagnostic x-ray division of GE Medical Systems. Formerly manager of GE's global quality and Six Sigma, Kerpelman is now in charge of digital x-ray, radiography, radiography and fluoroscopy,

Growing interest in enterprise distribution of images has prompted the major film and modality vendors to look beyond radiology and cardiology for new business. New marketing strategies are designed to bridge the gap between the radiology department and

An MRI milestone was reached in mid-December when Toshiba America Medical Systems shipped its 300th Opart MRI scanner. The superconducting open system with a field strength of 0.35 tesla entered the market some three years ago. It was designed

The financial realities of PACS keep some smaller hospitals from entering the digital era. A low-cost/no-cost solution to this problem that was revealed at the RSNA in November attracted attention, especially from representatives of developing and

Sometimes it's easier to find a suitable PACS than it is to find someone up to the task of administering it. First, you need a person who understands how the imaging department works, said Charles E. Willis, Ph.D., PACS coordinator at Texas Children's

With the increasing consolidation of hospitals and healthcare organizations and the growing dominance of integrated delivery networks, systems integration has become a provocative market niche for PACS providers. Network integration is at the

Data explosion drives need for remote archives While the ASP mark et has latched onto storage as an inroad to new customers and real revenue, stand-alone storage was also a key marketing strategy for PACS and information systems vendors at

StorageTek has signed remarketing agreements with Agfa Gevaert, Kodak Health Imaging Systems, and Philips Medical Systems that allow the three imaging firms to resell and license StorageTek image archiving technologies to their healthcare customers. The

HealthCenter Internet Services, a healthcare network provider, has joined forces with Compaq to develop and launch PACS on-demand. The service is designed to provide archival solutions on a per use basis to hospitals and medical imaging facilities.

Thanks in large part to the IHE initiative and other standardization efforts, tighter integration of PACS and RIS has become a primary goal for systems manufacturers and software developers. While technology advances have helped facilitate

Philips Medical Systems has signed a marketing agreement with InSiteOne to incorporate its InDex archive solution as part of Philips' Inturis for Radiology PACS ASP offering (HNN 12/13/00). InSiteOne is a provider of online and nearline digital imaging

Maintaining the reliability of a PACS can be as simple as verifying that a patient's folder does not contain the wrong images. Without a way to do this automatically, verification of images becomes a time-consuming manual process. That may change,