New Clinical Areas and Imaging Modalities Expand North American Opportunities for Advanced Visualization in Medical Imaging

Business Wire, Oct 17, 2007

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- As 3D imaging consolidates its role in daily clinical practice, customers' expectations from advanced visualization are growing drastically, as they demand more workflow efficiency and enterprise-wide access to help create a truly profitable business model for 3D imaging. These changing paradigms are fueling market growth in diverging market segments and creating new dynamics in the competitive landscape.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.medicalimaging.frost.com), North American Advanced 3D/4D Visualization for Medical Imaging Markets, reveals that this market earned revenues of $0.50 billion in 2006 and estimates this to reach $1.36 billion in 2013.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants an overview of the latest analysis of the North American Advanced 3D/4D Visualization for Medical Imaging Markets, then send an e-mail to Melina Trevino - Corporate Communications at melina.trevino@frost.com with the following information: your full name, company name, title, telephone number, e-mail address, city, state, and country. We will send you the information via email upon receipt of the above information.

"While the latest advances in imaging technologies are helping to capture the anatomy and functions in unprecedented ways, advanced visualization is the key to exploiting the ever-growing image datasets," notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Nadim Daher. "Enterprise-wide deployments broaden the scope of 3D imaging projects and call for an enterprise-oriented approach to the market."

Quite significantly, cardiovascular imaging applications, particularly using computed tomography (CT), have revolutionized radiology and are fueling market growth, which is expected to continue in this and other clinical areas. With server-client technology, 3D imaging is expanding beyond the radiology department and into the greater enterprise. This allows cardiologists, surgeons, and other specialists to achieve higher standards of care.

Among the market competitors, imaging equipment OEMs have an immense competitive advantage in advanced visualization and capture a majority of the market revenues. This calls for independent vendors to strongly differentiate their value proposition. Picture archive communication system (PACS) vendors are developing stronger in-house advanced visualization capabilities to incorporate in PACS systems, yielding overlapping interests with advanced visualization vendors.

"Independent vendors need to increase efforts on maintaining a technological edge, such as is currently the case with thin-clients and the enterprise model for advanced visualization," says Daher. "Balancing direct sales and sales through partnerships with PACS and modality vendors will ensure sustained growth, but also calls for re-structuring and diversifying the sales organization."

Advanced visualization needs to better integrate in the PACS workflow and the imaging IT ecosystem in order to provide a more profitable business model for advanced visualization through workflow efficiency and workflow integration. Embedded OEM software and hardware technology can help enable PACS systems for advanced visualization through deeper R&D collaboration.

North American Advanced (3D/4D) Visualization for Medical Imaging Markets is part of the Medical Imaging Growth Partnership Service, which also includes research in the following markets: CT Imaging Equipment, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computed and Digital Radiography (CR, DR), Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS), Computer-Aided Detection and Diagnosis (CAD), Medical Displays. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants. Interviews with the press are available.

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Consulting Company, partners with clients to accelerate their growth. The company's Growth Partnership Services, Growth Consulting and Career Best Practices empower clients to create a growth focused culture that generates, evaluates and implements effective growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan employs over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 30 offices on six continents. For more information about Frost & Sullivan's Growth Partnerships, visit http://www.frost.com.

North American Advanced (3D/4D) Visualization for Medical Imaging Markets

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