Lumisys targets small-scale niche with bundled miniPACS/CR device

Lumisys targets small-scale niche with bundled miniPACS/CR device

Firm will establish direct sales force to market iLuminator

The growing interest in PACS among small hospitals, clinics, and private practices has prompted the introduction of another miniPACS product. Film digitizer and computed radiography vendor Lumisys has launched iLuminator, a bundled, low-cost, standalone miniPACS and computed radiography device that is based on the firm’s ACR-2000 desktop CR system.

iLuminator combines image acquisition, high-resolution gray-scale display, Internet-based telecommunications, WAN and LAN network capabilities, and DICOM-compliant archiving in a cart-based system that sells for less than $75,000. It is designed for private radiology, orthopedic, and surgical practices; remote clinics; ICUs; emergency rooms; and radiation therapy centers.

In fact, iLuminator’s compact design and standalone capabilities, combined with the target customer base, have prompted the Sunnyvale, CA-based company to establish a direct sales force for the first time in the firm’s history. Lumisys is currently recruiting salespeople to market iLuminator in most major cities.

“In the past, we sold our digitizers initially with no software layer,” said Dr. Phillip Berman, Lumisys president and CEO. “Even the ACR-2000, while a finished product with an application layer, still requires somebody to provide a DICOM viewer and DICOM archive. But iLuminator is different by its nature. It has acquisition, viewing, and storage all on a single cart, and doesn’t even have to be attached to a HIS.”

Berman is hoping the new product and additional sales channel will bolster revenues in coming quarters. A slowdown in bulk sales of the ACR-2000, lower than expected film digitizer sales, and startup costs related to its new Internet business, AuntMinnie.com, put a damper on the firm’s third-quarter financials. Lumisys reported revenues of $3.9 million for the third quarter (end-September), a 16.7% dip compared with revenues of $4.6 million for the same quarter a year ago. Net loss was $522,000, compared with profit of $176,000 for the third quarter of 1998. This represents the company’s first operating loss in seven quarters.

Although several large-quantity sales of the ACR-2000 CR system were pending, they did not close in the third quarter as expected, according to Berman. Small-unit sales have been shipping consistently, however, throughout the four quarters Lumisys has been selling the ACR-2000, Berman said.

Berman believes the decline in bulk orders is a temporary situation. In fact, sales of the ACR-2000 are well above what the company projected when the product was first introduced at last year’s RSNA meeting, he said. More than 150 systems have been sold to date, and several large orders are pending. Lumisys markets the ACR-2000 through OEM relationships with Brit Systems, DR Systems, Picker International, Swissray International, Analogic, and DeJarnette Research Systems.

In other news, Lumisys has entered into an agreement with GE Healthcare Services. GE will provide on-site services for both the ACR-2000 and iLuminator products.

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