IBM updates archiving solution
IBM has updated its Grid Medical Archive Solution (GMAS) that combines its TotalStorage and System X servers with its system storage multilevel (Grid Access Manager Software) software on an open-source operating system to deliver a flexible and scalable virtualized storage solution for mid to large healthcare organizations and hospital networks. IBM displayed the product last month in Chicago at the 93rd scientific assembly and annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Richard S. Bakalar, MD, chief medical officer of the healthcare and life sciences division at IBM, spoke about the need for continually reinforcing and updating current archiving solutions due to the aging population. To cater to the growing number of images and the aging population, Bakalar said that GMAS now stores 100 terabytes of information to accommodate large studies that produce 500MB and 1GB size files.
GMAS also “protects against data loss for life,” Bakalar said. The solution “proactively checks for corrupted data,” he added. Bakalar discussed the benefits of GMAS being a single, enterprise-wide solution that is not a DICOM archive solution. GMAS automates information for storage protection. The GMAS has “a lot of applications and you are only using 40 percent of the solution, which pools resources from 80 to 90 percent,” Bakalar said. He said that GMAS improves application uptime and reliability.
Bakalar said the majority of IBM’s implementations are at small and community-based hospitals. The solution does not require an increase in IT staff for smaller hospitals, because IBM provides the support.
Richard S. Bakalar, MD, chief medical officer of the healthcare and life sciences division at IBM, spoke about the need for continually reinforcing and updating current archiving solutions due to the aging population. To cater to the growing number of images and the aging population, Bakalar said that GMAS now stores 100 terabytes of information to accommodate large studies that produce 500MB and 1GB size files.
GMAS also “protects against data loss for life,” Bakalar said. The solution “proactively checks for corrupted data,” he added. Bakalar discussed the benefits of GMAS being a single, enterprise-wide solution that is not a DICOM archive solution. GMAS automates information for storage protection. The GMAS has “a lot of applications and you are only using 40 percent of the solution, which pools resources from 80 to 90 percent,” Bakalar said. He said that GMAS improves application uptime and reliability.
Bakalar said the majority of IBM’s implementations are at small and community-based hospitals. The solution does not require an increase in IT staff for smaller hospitals, because IBM provides the support.