Experience with PACS in an ATM/Ethernet switched network environment

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Networking
• Medical Informatics

Background:

• Traditional shared media LANs are insufficient for large-scale Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS).
• PACS environments exhibit asymmetric network load, requiring higher bandwidth for servers than clients.
• Scalability is a key challenge, as network throughput must not degrade with increasing PACS nodes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the suitability of advanced network architectures for large-scale PACS.
• To address the limitations of legacy LAN technologies in supporting growing PACS demands.
• To propose a cost-effective migration strategy for integrating new networking technologies into existing PACS infrastructure.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of network load characteristics in client-server PACS architectures.
• Investigation of switching technologies, specifically Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and Ethernet switching.
• Examination of the LAN Emulation (LANE) specification for integrating ATM and legacy Ethernet systems.

Main Results:

• Switching technologies, particularly ATM, provide necessary bandwidth and support for virtual networking in PACS.
• A combined ATM/Ethernet switching environment offers an incremental migration path, leveraging ATM's benefits while preserving existing infrastructure.
• Ethernet switching significantly improves performance over shared media Ethernet.

Conclusions:

• A combined ATM/Ethernet switching architecture is well-suited for large-scale PACS, balancing performance and cost-effectiveness.
• The LANE specification enables seamless coexistence of ATM and legacy Ethernet systems.
• This network architecture facilitates an efficient upgrade path for PACS networks, meeting scalability and performance requirements.