IBG charges Vision Ten, supports Genesys PACS

Medical film digitizer suppliers Lumisys and Vision Ten brokeoff their merger discussions last month. One problem with theunion was apparently Vision Ten's involvement in litigation, theliabilities of which could have carried over to an expanded Lumisys.

Vision Ten of Torrance, CA, pulled back last year from directsupply of a sub-PAC system based on its charge-coupled device(CCD) digitizer and is now focused on OEM sales of the digitizertechnology. Lumisys, based in Sunnyvale, CA, would have addedthe CCD products to the lower end of its OEM laser digitizer line(SCAN 1/27/93).

During a single year, 80% of Vision Ten's worldwide sales ofits film digitizing and distribution system were placed in theItalian and Spanish markets by its partner International BusinessGroup, according to Alexander Paluch, IBG president and CEO. Thesystem is dubbed RITA (radiographic imaging, transmission andarchive).

"We sold almost $2 million of (RITA-related) product inthe Italian marketplace alone, and this is with a $30,000 scannerand associated software," Paluch told SCAN.

IBG, of Bethesda, MD, filed suit last January against VisionTen in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, chargingthe firm with breach of its distribution contract and breach ofwarrantee obligations, according to Walter Carozza, IBG generalcounsel. The suit claims over $5 million in damages and mighthave been transferred to the new company if Vision Ten had merged,he said.

IBG installed a total of 18 RITA systems in Spain and Italyover a one-and-a-half-year period, Paluch said. IBG also developedrelated PACS products on its own to work with RITA during thespan of its business relationship with Vision Ten.

Following the shift at Vision Ten last summer, IBG strengthenedits medical imaging and information systems relationship withPACS firm Genesys of Orlando, FL. Genesys sells PAC systems basedon IBM's RS/6000 Unix workstation. IBG is the licensee of theGenesys product in Europe and developed the relationships withnational IBM organizations in that region, Paluch said.

IBG took a minor equity position of less than 10% in Genesysthis year, following the breakdown of talks between that PAC systemssupplier and teleradiology firm Image Data (SCAN 1/27/93). Thisinvestment helped strengthen Genesys as it undertook a corporaterestructuring and raised funds through a private placement thisyear (SCAN 3/24/93).

The relationship between IBG and Genesys has been bolsteredin several ways following the equity investment:

• IBG was awarded a software-development contract tobring the Genesys architecture into full compliance with opensystems technology;

• powerful data processing technology used in the U.S.financial industry will be applied by IBG to better link the GenesysPACS with hospital information systems; and

• a subsidiary company formed by IBG has taken a U.S.license to sell the Genesys/IBM product in the U.S. market.

The subsidiary, Midas Technology, was formed April 1. It willbe an IBM business partner, as is Genesys. Both firms will workwith the computer giant in developing, selling and servicing theGenesys ROI PACS in the U.S.

Network processing technology will be transferred from HCIof Dallas, another company in which IBG holds equity interest,Paluch said. HCI has developed software that controls automaticteller machine data traffic nationwide, he said.

IBG has also developed an ACR/NEMA dictionary product in cooperationwith the University of Maryland Medical Center that will be offeredwith the Genesys PACS. The development project was funded by a$250,000 Maryland Industrial Partnership grant.

The software provides an intelligent front-end to PACS thatinterprets ACR/NEMA standard data coming from imaging modalitiesand routes the image information to appropriate display or outputdevices, Paluch said.

IBG is also evaluating direct data acquisition components forPACS and has a nonexclusive agreement for the incorporation ofLumisys laser digitizer technology, he said.

"One of the tasks for the Genesys software developmentcontract will be to optimize the interface they have with theLumisys 150 and develop a Lumisys 50 interface when that (digitizer)is commercially available in June," Paluch said.

In an unrelated matter, former Genesys president Michael Kerouac,who left the firm at the time of its corporate restructuring,has formed a new company in a similar field. MD TV of Longwood,FL, will supply image transmission and teleconferencing technologyinto the emerging telemedicine market. Kerouac serves as president.