Guest Column: Cloud Storage Solves The Medical Imaging Data Problem

By Kenneth A. Rubin, senior vice president & general manager, Digital Healthcare Solutions, Iron Mountain

Today, the medical imaging industry is facing a "perfect storm" marked by explosive data growth in medical images and the drive towards electronic patient information systems; an increase in stringent regulations, tighter enforcement, and increased penalties; and a reduction in capital resources available due to the current economic conditions. Factored together, this storm has forced hospitals and health systems to re-evaluate their data storage needs and technology investments. Simply put: Traditional data storage methods for medical images – adding servers and backing up every bit of data – just will not work anymore.

The solution for this growing problem exists in the cloud; more specifically, cloud storage. Offering economies of scale and cost, cloud storage leverages the power of the Internet in turning data storage into a powerful service. It removes the capital expenditures of maintaining and adding storage hardware along with the management complexity of managing the software associated with data storage. In doing this, cloud storage transforms the way data is stored, accessed and managed, providing the remedy for the explosive growth in medical image archiving and backup.