U.S. work force will drop at rate of attritionA restructuring plan in the works at Siemens AG would involvelayoffs of up to 6000 employees, about 3% of the more than 200,000workers at the German industrial giant. The restructuring willinclude

Elscint has hired former Toshiba executive Peter Annand as seniorvice president of operations at its Hackensack, NJ, subsidiary,filling a position left vacant by the departure of Donald Southardearlier this year (SCAN 8/28/96). Annand will oversee U.S.

PACS dominates RSNA technical exhibits as healthcare focuses oninformation technology The need for greater efficiency is driving interest in image andinformation managementIn case anyone is keeping score, the 1996 edition of the

Toshiba America Medical Systems and Agfa have signed a value-addedreseller agreement in which Toshiba will be able to sell Agfa'sImpax PACS line in situations where it is also selling multimodalityequipment. The nonexclusive deal finally gives Tustin,

Four scanners in its MRI product line apparently aren't enoughfor Israeli multimodality vendor Elscint. The company will usethe RSNA meeting to unveil its latest magnet, the 1-tesla Prima1TG. The "TG" in Prima's appellation stands for the

GE Medical Systems introduced major upgrades to its Logiq lineof ultrasound scanners this year. For the Logiq 700, the MaximumResolution upgrade debuted in April, bringing improvements tothat system that GE claims unlock its potential (SCAN 5/8/96). In

A joint venture between Intermagnetics General and Surrey MedicalImaging Systems will display a new 0.15-tesla permanent-magnetMRI scanner designed to carry one of the lowest price tags inthe industry. The work-in-progress scanner, IMiG-MRI, will

Hewlett-Packard has dominated the cardiology ultrasound market for years, and is now preparing to enter the radiology ultrasound market as well. The company's Andover, MA, Medical Products Group plans to unveil a new digital ultrasound scanner at its

Full DICOM conformance is still at least two years awayIf you plan on touring the PACS exhibits at this year's RadiologicalSociety of North America meeting, don't expect to be bowled overby new technological developments. While PACS vendors

Siemens Ultrasound Group in Issaquah, WA, will use momentum generatedwith the 1995 launch of the 256-channel Sonoline Elegra as a springboardto this year's show. Heading the division's new product offeringswill be SieScape, an image-processing technique

Toshiba America Medical Systems of Tustin, CA, will demonstratea new ultrasound scanner designed to beef up the company's positionin the radiology ultrasound segment. Toshiba has taken the PowerVisionscanner it markets to the cardiology segment and

Philips has made major changes to its PACS focus since last year'sRSNA show. The Dutch vendor has entered a relationship with SwedishPACS software developer Sectra-Imtec that enables Philips to begincompeting in the market for filmless-hospital

Will PACS maintain profile established at last year's show?The technical exhibit floor of the Radiological Society of NorthAmerica's annual meeting often resembles a high-tech bazaar, withhealthcare merchants hawking a bewildering array of

PET developer Positron of Houston has completed the due diligencephase of its planned acquisition of GE Medical Systems' PET business(SCAN 7/31/96). Positron said it is in the latter stages of securingfinancing for the deal, which it expects to have in

IBM unit to concentrate on government businessComputer giant IBM is taking its first steps back into the PACSmarket. The vendor's Worldwide Government Industry division haspartnered with software developer Brit Systems to win a $6.3

Opart's launch accompanies retirement of low-field AccessToshiba America MRI will soon introduce a new MRI platform thathas the potential to be its most important MRI product launchever, and the company is retiring the MRI scanner that has madea

Siemens Medical Systems introduced a new cardiac MRI package atthe American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans last week.The package, for the Iselin, NJ, vendor's 1.5-tesla Vision and1-tesla Impact Expert scanners, is designed to make cardiac MRIa

PACS developer Sectra-Imtec has won a contract to install itsPACS technology at Central Hospital of Vestfold in Tonsberg, Norway.Sectra, of Linköping, Sweden, said the hospital intends todigitize all modalities in its radiology department, and

Add Siemens to the list of European companies planning to restructuretheir medical divisions. The German vendor announced this monththat it intends to retool its Medical Engineering Group to cometo grips with changes in healthcare in two major markets,

Biomedical component added to multivendor programAfter cooperating informally for nearly a year, Philips MedicalSystems and Kinetic Biomedical Services have joined forces toexpand Philips' multivendor service program to include biomedicaland