Trionix builds on Sun relationship

Nuclear medicine vendor Trionix has always maintained a strongtechnological relationship with Sun Microsystems. Sun computerprocessing technology is built into the firm's high-end triple-and dual-detector SPECT cameras, the Triad and the Biad.

The partnership was strengthened this year as Trionix evolveda stronger nuclear networking focus, said President Chun Bin Lim.The Twinsburg, OH, vendor has developed two Sun-based workstations,which will be offered to customers independently of its SPECTcameras, he said.

"We maintain a close business relationship with Sun,"Lim told SCAN. "Now we have decided to make our joint computertechnology available as an independent product. This is part ofour evolutionary process."

Two Trionix workstations run on the Sun base:

• AcquPro acquires and processes images from variousnuclear cameras within a department. A 12-bit analog-to-digitalconverter transfers the image data from cameras to the workstationnetwork.

• VisionPro is used for rapid and specialized image processingwork. It accepts images that have already been placed on the network.

Since many nuclear medicine clinics have cameras but not computers,image acquisition is essential to build efficient digital networks.Trionix's move into networking technology is part of an effortto offer more comprehensive services to its users, Lim said.

"After establishing our technical base, we needed to proveourselves as business managers," he said.

The next networking step for Trionix will be development ofa multimodality interface that helps users overlay the functionalnuclear display on anatomical images, he said.

"This year, we will address networking within the confinesof nuclear medicine clinics. Starting next year, we would liketo address the need to network (nuclear medicine) with other modalities,such as MRI and CT," he said.