With digital radiology, PACS and RIS in use for 15 years or more at most US hospitals, a disparate system architecture is now the reality for most departments. Multiple PACS and mini-PACS populate the environment, resulting in inefficiencies, increased operating costs, and reduced throughput for departments.

Radiology departments have been seeking ways to work better-managing images from multiple PACS and multiple departments and seeking to increase radiologists' reading efficiency by delivering more information to their workstation. In a world of disparate PACS and multi-ology images, the notion of a universal workstation to deliver patient results efficiently is both a necessity and now - a reality.