Dell to buy InSite One medical image archiving firm
Dell is acquiring InSite One, which provides cloud storage services for the US healthcare market.
The company told ZDNet UK on Wednesday that the medical archiving firm would be integrated into Dell's exisiting medical products and services.
"Dell already provides hospitals and small to medium-[sized] practices with access to [electronic medical records] through the cloud," said David Frink, Dell's public affairs manager. "Our plan is to provide a continuum of deployment options for customers to accommodate their infrastructures and budget requirements, and the cloud is part of that. We'll let customers determine which approach meets their needs."
InSite One hosts Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (Pacs), according to Dell. The NHS began storing digital copies of X-rays and scans on a Pacs system in 2007.
The acquisition will extend Dell's Unified Clinical Archive product — part of its Health and Life Sciences service division — which helps organisations archive Pacs data, Frink told ZDNet UK, although InSite One will run as an autonomous business unit for now until it combines with the division.
Dell will use the InSite One's infrastructure to provide products to industries aside from healthcare. InSite One will act as a storage-as-a-service (SaaS) platform to archive digital content for companies in various industries on a subscription or pay-as-you-go basis, Dell said in a statement on Wednesday.
InSite One stores data in a suite of storage services named InDex, according to its website. InDex stores data across a variety of separate datacentres and replicates and archives data. It uses virtual private networks (VPN) to allow organisations to connect securely into its SaaS services.
The company currently manages over 54 million clinical studies and 3.7 billion medical images for health companies. Dell said the company is "the preferred archiving platform for the diagnostic imaging industry".
The companies did not disclose the terms of the transaction. Dell could not discuss whether the prices for InSite One's services will change as a result of the acquisition, Frink said.
In 2009 Dell announced a number of strategic partnerships to boost its digital healthcare services.