Introducing a downsized, open computer system with asynchronous transfer mode in PACS and its effect on image data transfer.

To assess the effectiveness of the introduction of a downsized, open computer system and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) as a network in a medium-sized picture archiving and communication system (PACS), we conducted experiments on image data transmission. The speed of image transfer, including registration in the computers in the new PACS, was four to eleven times faster than that in our first PACS. However, the introduction of ATM did not contribute significantly to the improvement of speed of image transfer because of the use of Ethernet branches between the gateway and display workstation computers. A star architecture without Ethernet branches may be suitable for PACS using an ATM network.