Base Ten lands funding for uPACS

Base Ten Systems has raised $3 million to move its uPACS ultrasound miniPACS product to market more quickly. The company plans to begin marketing uPACS as soon as it has finished making the system fully DICOM-compliant.

Base Ten raised the funding by setting up a separate limited liability company (LLC) that is owned by Base Ten and a private investor, whom the company declined to identify. The LLC is providing $3 million to Base Ten, which in return will pay royalties to the LLC based on uPACS sales. Base Ten will market uPACS when development work is completed, and will keep uPACS revenues in excess of the royalty payments.

The LLC is essentially a funding mechanism used to accelerate development of uPACS, according to Walter Brandes, vice president and COO of growth systems at Base Ten. It was set up to enable the private investor to avoid liability issues that might arise related to uPACS, Brandes said.

Base Ten already has clearance from the Food and Drug Administration and Europe's CE Mark to sell uPACS, but must finalize DICOM development before it can begin marketing the system, Brandes said. The system can capture and send DICOM-based images over third-party PACS networks, but is not yet able to conduct full DICOM query and retrieve, he said.

The uPACS product is an ultrasound image capture-and-retrieve workstation that Base Ten plans to market as a lower priced alternative to high-end systems like Acuson's Aegis and UltraPACS from ALI Technologies (SCAN 7/17/96). Base Ten plans to sell the system directly and through distributors in the U.S. and through distributors in global markets.