Monday, February 23, 2009

Bycast StorageGRID� Selected by Hawaii Pacific Health

Bycast StorageGRID® Selected by Hawaii Pacific Health

Multi-island health provider standardizes on Bycast to store & protect images.

Vancouver, BC (PRWEB) February 23, 2009 -- Bycast Inc., the leading provider of advanced storage virtualization software for large-scale digital archives, today announced that Hawaii Pacific Health (HPH) has standardized on Bycast® StorageGRID® software to store and protect images in its multi-facility medical image storage system.

HPH, Hawaii's largest Integrated Delivery Network conducts imaging procedures at five facilities located on two islands, Oahu and Kauai. The main data center is located in a sixth location on Oahu. The health provider's requirement for long term storage and protection of mission critical medical image data in this multi-facility environment presented it with a number of issues. HPH faced operational challenges to cost-effectively manage its exponentially growing data volumes and ensure high availability across the multiple hospitals, while taking into consideration inter-island network and IT resource limitations.

To meet the needs of this demanding environment, Hawaii Pacific Health has deployed Bycast StorageGRID software to create a flexible multi-tiered storage hierarchy spanning Hawaii Pacific Health's data center and hospitals. StorageGRID intelligently manages the off-site data replication, data movement, and data placement across multiple sites and storage tiers to ensure the most relevant data is placed where needed. While improving the overall storage utilization and efficiency, the solution eliminates the need for manual backup. To achieve the highest levels of availability, HPH also deployed the Bycast High Availability Gateway Cluster module at each of the 4 hospitals and Women's Center.

"We evaluated numerous options and only this solution delivered the storage scalability, high availability and data integrity capabilities that were critical to our situation," said Micah Ewing of Hawaii Pacific Health. "Furthermore, we reduced our primary storage and backup costs by ~50% by optimizing our storage utilization with the storage management capabilities unique to this system."

"We are pleased that Hawaii Pacific Health has been able to address their multi-site requirements by deploying a single enterprise-wide grid-based solution that has also cost-effectively leveraged existing storage investments," said Dave Gibbon, Director of Strategic Accounts at Bycast. "Beyond the IT benefits, the solution will facilitate enhanced delivery of care by Hawaii Pacific Health clinicians both now and into the future."

About Hawaii Pacific Health: Hawaii Pacific Health is a non-profit healthcare organization formed with the merger of three longtime Hawaii health systems, Wilcox Health, Kapi'olani Health, and Straub Clinic & Hospital. Hawaii Pacific Health is the state's largest healthcare system, with a network of four hospitals, 18 outpatient centers, and 1,100 physicians on four islands. In addition to providing care on Oahu, Kauai, Lanai and the Big Island, it also cares for patients and visitors throughout the state and the Pacific Region.

About Bycast: Bycast is the leading provider of storage virtualization software for large-scale digital archives. For organizations whose business depends on access to mission-critical data and images, Bycast protects and preserves digital assets over their lifetime. Bycast software enables organizations to optimize their storage infrastructure and ensure the integrity and availability of their valuable data. Bycast StorageGRID enables the formation of archives that can scale to petabytes of data across hundreds of sites. StorageGRID is sold globally through OEM relationships with two of the world's major storage vendors and is compatible with all leading PACS. It currently has hundreds of installations in over 18 countries worldwide. Bycast Inc. is a privately held company headquartered in Vancouver, BC. To learn more about the company and its solutions, visit www.bycast.com.

Media Contacts

Annette Saliken                            

Director, Marketing Communications

Bycast Inc.

Tel.: (604) 692-3083

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Contact Information Annette Saliken

Bycast Inc.

http://www.bycast.com

604-692-3083



Carestream Molecular Imaging Releases Western Blot Kits For Added Convenience, Better Performance

Carestream Molecular Imaging Releases Western Blot Kits For Added Convenience, Better Performance

Carestream Molecular Imaging today released convenient, cost-effective kits for performing western blots -- a popular analytical technique used to detect proteins.

New Haven, CT (Vocus) February 23, 2009 -- Carestream Molecular Imaging, a division of Carestream Health, Inc., today released convenient, cost-effective kits for performing western blots (http://mistore.carestreamhealth.com) -- a popular analytical technique used to detect proteins. KODAK X-SIGHT Western Kits provide industry-leading components and step-by-step protocols designed to deliver peak performance from X-SIGHT Nanosphere Conjugates in western blots.

"The X-SIGHT Nanosphere Conjugates, when used with the components supplied in the Western Kit, outperformed our current western blot method," said Kevin McCarthy, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pathology, LSU Health Sciences Center-Shreveport. "The whole process was faster, easier and the signal obtained was immediate, more stable and brighter -- with less background noise."

KODAK X-SIGHT Western Kits are built on X-SIGHT Nanospheres (http://mistore.carestreamhealth.com), which are available in four distinct wavelengths including three in the near-IR range. The kits are offered in several different wavelength combinations that include up to three X-SIGHT Nanosphere Conjugates, making them ideal for multiplex applications (http://mistore.carestreamhealth.com). Each kit is optimized for 10 blots and includes best-in-class membranes and buffers to achieve high signal-to-noise ratios. A separate Accessory Kit is also available for use with any of the X-SIGHT Nanosphere Conjugates or any other commercially available fluorescently-labeled secondary antibody conjugate (nanoparticle or dye).

The new kit delivers added productivity and can reduce costs when compared with purchasing each component separately or in larger quantities than may be necessary. Components suppliers include Fisher BioReagents (Fairlawn, NJ) part of Thermo Fisher Scientific and Millipore Corporation (Billerica, Mass.).

The kits are available worldwide. U.S. customers can place orders directly or through channel partners. For more information, go to http://mistore.carestreamhealth.com.

About Carestream Molecular Imaging

Carestream Molecular Imaging group, a division of Carestream Health, Inc., develops and markets high performance digital imaging systems, imaging agents, film and accessories under the KODAK brand for the life science research and drug discovery/development market segments. For more information, visit mi.carestreamhealth.com or call 1-877-747-4357, express code 7. Outside of the United States, call 1-203-786-5657.

About Carestream Health, Inc.

Carestream Health, Inc., is a leading provider of dental and medical imaging systems and healthcare IT solutions; molecular imaging systems for the life science research and drug discovery/development market segments; and x-ray film and digital x-ray products for the non-destructive testing market. Headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., and serving customers in more than 150 countries, Carestream Health is an independent company operating within the family of companies owned by Onex Corporation (TSX: OCX.TO) of Toronto, Canada. For more information about Carestream Health, contact your Carestream Health representative or visit www.carestreamhealth.com.

KODAK is a trademark of Kodak used under license.

X-SIGHT is a trademark of Carestream Health.

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Contact Information Jim Barillo

Carestream Health, Inc.

http://mistore.carestreamhealth.com

585-627-6440

Robette Brooks

CCS PR

303-699-8861