Conceptually, a vendor neutral archive (VNA) is an archival system that can be used to store virtually any type of digital data irrespective of the original source of that data.
Philips IntelliSpace PACS 4.4 includes many features designed to allow it to work more with a VNA.
VNAs can be “vendor neutral” with regard to the storage vendor in addition to being vendor neutral to data sources and data users.
In the medical digital imaging field, the term VNA is often applied to archives from companies that provide an archive designed specifically to store DICOM images. They remain vendor neutral to both the sources of the images and the users of the images by using DICOM standard protocols for transfer of the data between systems.
Philips VNA friendly features
The use of the VNA parallels or replaces the archiving components of the PACS, introducing a whole new system into the solution. It requires that communication previously handled within the PACS can now be broadcast out in an appropriate format and with the required information to provide that the new archive has the correct and same information as the PACS.
Should you choose to implement a VNA as the archive of record for your DICOM studies, IntelliSpace PACS 4.4 is ready with:
- Support for DICOM Storage Commitment Service Class User – IntelliSpace PACS has support for DICOM Storage Commitment Service Class User to receive acknowledgement of successful archiving at the VNA. This allows the IntelliSpace PACS system to purge older studies.
- Large cache – This large cache capability is very useful for customers accustomed to speed from disk while at the same time allowing the VNA to archive studies to any media type supported by the VNA.
- IHE XDS-1 profile support – This allows IntelliSpace PACS to use a VNA providing an “Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise” (IHE) compliant Document Repository for long-term archiving.
- Automatic retrieval from the VNA – Studies that no longer exist on cache are identified on the thumbnail image with an “A” indicating the study is available from the VNA. Selection automatically triggers retrieval of the study from the VNA and convert it to iSyntax for viewing.
- Automatic export – IntelliSpace PACS provides configurable rules for automatic export of DICOM data to the VNA based on DICOM metadata or workflow events.
Choice of configuration
IntelliSpace PACS will continue to offer you both a standard IntelliSpace configuration and one that provides the same level of clinical efficiency and ease of use when a VNA is used as the archive of choice.
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