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Deploying a PACS: Issues to consider

Application Service Provider PACS: Analyzing Costs of Service

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Application Service Provider PACS: Analyzing Costs of Service

Part 5

In some PACS, these applications are installed on a few larger computers; in other PACS, they are installed on many smaller computers. Regardless of server architecture (and, therefore, of the number of individual computers deployed), the overall cost is remarkably similar among vendors for server subsystems with similar features and performance.

In this model, breaking the server subsystem into multiple platforms makes it easier to understand which pieces of the server will remain on-site and which will be removed to the remote service center. In Table 3, the six key applications of the server subsystem are shown with their respective estimated costs. In this model, the size of the redundant array of independent drives (RAID), the number of servers required to manage the volume of image traffic, and the archival media were chosen to illustrate the necessary detail. In the real world, careful consideration of these and many more variables would result in a more accurate server model and, presumably, a more realistic quotation from an actual vendor. The reader is urged to request this level of detail from the PACS vendor. It is necessary to produce as detailed a description of the server subsystem as possible (with line-item pricing) if one intends to evaluate an ASP program.

Once the server subsystem of the proposed PACS has been defined in the necessary detail, it is possible to ask the ASP provider to provide details concerning which pieces of the PACS vendor’s server subsystem (and corresponding applications) will be removed to the remote site and provided as a service and which will have to remain on-site.

The typical ASP program being proposed today focuses on providing off-site archiving and web-server applications. These programs basically mean that the ASP provider will take responsibility for creating and managing a database unique to the facility and for storing the image data both on RAID for some period of time (online storage) and on archival media (near-line and off-line storage) for the legally required period. The program will include backups, security, and regulatory compliance. As long as the image data are in this server, it is easy to provide web-server applications, as well. The ASP program guarantees access at all times and includes all hardware, software, and media upgrades necessary.

The ASP provider is not, however, removing all of the image data and database-server functionality from the site. In fact, a small server that manages the database and stores the images for the first few days must remain on-site.