Medical Imaging and IPv6
Medical imaging vendors provide digital Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) to hospitals and clinics, which enables them to archive and distribute medical images and diagnostic reports across the enterprise. PACS integrates with Radiology Information Systems (RIS) to create an integrated RIS/PACS environment that streamlines radiology department workflow and improves radiologist efficiency by integrating images from mulitple sources with clinical patient data. This solution provides radiologists with a full clinical solution and access to complete information for each patient.
The image transmission from X-Ray, CT, MRI and other imagers to large data servers for viewing and archiving is done using the IPv4 protocol. Similarly, the sharing and distribution of images to remote radiologist workstations and other locations is done using IPv4 also over various physical media.
This radiology equipment is very expensive, complicated and difficult to upgrade from IPv4 to IPv6. Hence, there is a lot of interest from medical imaging vendors in using Datatek's IPv4-IPv6 Transformer to migrate these systems to IPv6. For a hospital or other vendor considering changing from one PACS/RIS vendor to another, a lot of work and planning has to be done, often taking 1 to 2 years for full conversion of all images and data. If the hospital is considering changing their PACS/RIS systems simply because of a lack of IPv6 capability, then that vendor can easily add Datatek's IPv4-IPv6 Transformer to their servers and systems to become IPv6-compliant. Similarly, if a vendor's lack of IPv6 is jeopardizing winning a contract that requires IPv6 capability, then the vendor can add Datatek's IPv4-IPv6 Transformer to its systems to become fully IPv6-complient to meet contract requirements.
Massive amounts of image data is created and distributed each year and the amount will only increase in the future. The future is going to be IPv6, so for those PACS/RIS systems that, due to cost or complexity, are not going to be upgraded to IPv6, Datatek's IPv4-IPv6 Transformer is the solution.
