THE E-PACS TECHNOLOGY

Like any ordinary in-house archiving system, e-pacs consists of short-term and long-term storage. An e-pacs Department Server (EDS), installed on the client’s premises, administrates local storage with data from the past several months or years for local access at GB speed. It is primarily used to perform the following tasks.
 

Connectivity Management

The EDS takes over the connection of the image-generating process according to the DICOM protocol. It functions as the DICOM Storage Service Class Provider for this purpose. All incoming data are stored on the local image memory, where they are accessible within a few seconds via LAN. Alternatively, the e-pacs File Management Gateway is also available so that data in non-DICOM formats can be taken over onto the data-system level via an interface. This process is used for integration into PACS systems made by various manufacturers whose devices are currently on the market. This method makes it possible to also take over and simply integrate non-medical or non-radiological data formats, e.g. from a patient’s electronic records.
 

Security Management

Outside the client’s network, all data are conveyed and processed in exclusively enciphered and pseudonymous form. Only in this way is external archiving legally permissible. The EDS takes over the enciphering and deciphering of all externally communicated data.
 

Data-Migration Management

The EDS is equipped with local image storage (RAID6). Parallel to their storage on the local image memory, the data are also conveyed externally. Reading access to external data always occurs online via Secure Internet. Data conveyance to the e-pacs Storage Center takes place either continually or at low-volume times, e.g. during the night or on weekends. The entire archiving process is transaction-secured, i.e. data can only be erased by the client if the e-pacs Storage Center has explicitly confirmed that those data have been archived on the file level.
 

Only older data are automatically made available from the external archive. Another task is the migration of data to and from the e-pacs Storage Center. Whenever data is outside the client’s premises, these data are always transmitted and processed in pseudonymous and enciphered form.

In the e-pacs Storage Center archiving computer center, each client has at his disposal a data medium that is exclusively assigned to him, as well as a dedicated database with a backup copy outside the e-pacs Storage Center. This offers the following performance characteristics.
 

Very Large Storage Capacity

Telepaxx operates e-pacs Storage Centers at three locations for more than 100 clients; the total capacity is 3,900 TB. This massive data storage makes it possible to achieve significant cost reductions for each client, independently of the client’s specific data volume.
 

Client-Related Archival Data Storage

A data-media pool, including an assigned database, is kept in trust for each client; the data media are the client’s property.
 

Professional Operating Environment

Each e-pacs Storage Center is equipped with the infrastructure necessary for the secure long-term archiving of medical data:

• F90+ security cell
• Automatic fire-extinguishing system
• Early fire-detection system
• Protected and controlled access
• Transaction-secured doubled storage of data
• Online replication of the database
• Redundantly equipped with all important components
• Heated and air conditioned
• Interruption-free power supply
• Fallback lines for telecommunication
• Professional Operating / Backup

Through the e-pacs operating method, Telepaxx assures that at least two copies of each file are always stored at different locations. Telepaxx also contractually guarantees the long-term availability of the data. Secured operating environments manned by trained specialists increase the operating security and improve the data’s availability compared to an internal archiving operation.
 

Technological Independence

Telepaxx guarantees the online availability of the data in the format given to Telepaxx (e.g. DICOM) for at least ten years, independent of future technological development and without follow-up costs for the client. This gives the client a high degree of investment security.  
 

Cost-Optimized Usage of Bandwidth

Through the alterable parameters “size of the local tape storage,” “data conveyed optionally online or offline” and “selection of the conveyance pathway,” Telepaxx makes it possible for each client to operate at the optimal cost-benefit ratio. In the course of time, this can be readily adapted to accommodate changes in the client’s requirements or to conform to cost developments.