Fuji and Olicon strike PACS alliance

Fuji Medical Systems USA and Olicon Imaging Systems this month signed a nonexclusive licensing and product distribution agreement. The deal enables Fuji, which has specialized in the development of computed radiography systems, to sell turnkey PACS solutions to hospitals.

Under the terms of the agreement, Fuji will distribute Olicon's PACS products when customers desire a single-vendor solution for PACS and CR, according to Clay Larsen, managing director of marketing for Stamford, CT-based Fuji. Fuji can now directly offer its CR customers PACS products, whereas in the past, it had to refer them to another vendor, Larsen said.

San Clemente, CA-based Olicon, on the other hand, will license Fuji's CR image processing algorithms for use on Olicon's workstations, making them more suited for primary CR reading by radiologists, according to Dick Paulsen, Olicon's CEO. Olicon also believes the agreement will give the company an advantage in marketing its products to Fuji CR customers who are interested in upgrading to PACS.