By Miriam Friedmann
19. March 2025

PACS & VNAs: Why hospitals should store data vendor-neutrally

Flexible, interoperable and future-proof: a Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA) frees hospitals from vendor dependency. So why are many facilities still stuck with proprietary archives? Time to take a closer look at the potential of a VNA.

Why the separation of PACS and archive is crucial

Time and again we hear from our customers that they find themselves in a difficult situation: Their image data from radiology is firmly tied to the hospital's own PACS(Picture Archiving and Communication System) from the respective manufacturer. This makes changing the PACS software extremely time-consuming and expensive. But there is a solution: a Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA). With a vendor-neutral long-term archive, the image data remains stored independently of the PACS software - creating flexibility and future-proofing.

In recent years in particular, many institutions have realized how problematic close ties to manufacturers can be. One example that we hear again and again: The PACS provider cancels its local support - as a result, there are always communication breakdowns, employees are annoyed and, in the worst case, the health of patients is at stake. However, a quick change of provider is hardly feasible because the image data is stored in the PACS provider's proprietary archive.

Until now, the market has been dominated by strong vendor loyalty. If you want to change your PACS, you usually also have to migrate the archive - a time-consuming and risky process. With a VNA, on the other hand, hospitals can store and manage their image data independently of the PACS software used.

The advantages of a vendor neutral archive

A VNA offers numerous advantages over manufacturer-specific PACS archives:

Herstellerunabhängigkeit: Krankenhäuser können ihre PACS-Software wechseln, ohne das Archiv migrieren zu müssen.
Interoperability: Different medical systems can access the archive - whether PACS, HIS or other IT solutions.
Future-proof: New software solutions can be integrated more easily without having to adapt the archive structure.
Optimized workflows: Image data is available at any point in the hospital - the call is not necessarily tied to individual workstations
Flexibility: Changing or modernizing the PACS system is much easier because the archive remains untouched.

Wie groß sollte Ihr VNA sein?

Sie können sich vorstellen, Ihr Bildarchiv vom PACS zu separieren, sind aber unsicher, wie viel Speicherkapazität Ihr Krankenhaus in den nächsten fünf Jahren benötigen wird?

Rechnen Sie’s einfach aus mit unserem DICOM-Archiv-Rechner.

When is the right time to make the switch?

Perhaps your hospital is about to change its PACS - simply because the system needs to be modernized or the previous PACS provider can no longer provide what your hospital needs. Then this is the perfect time to think about decoupling the PACS and data archive.

Those responsible can then choose a new PACS software at their leisure - without pressure and with complete freedom of choice. This is what the Bremerhaven-Reinkenheide Hospital did, for example. In an interview with Telepaxx, MIT Director Dr. Henning Janßen explains the challenges the hospital faced and why switching to a cloud VNA was the solution.

VNA from the cloud as the key to digitalization

Incidentally, a vendor-neutral archive not only makes it easier to switch PACS. Cloud-based systems can also improve digital collaboration in hospitals. Image data is available to all relevant systems, whether in radiology, cardiology or surgery.

A VNA also makes things noticeably easier for hospital staff: they can call up and view image data using exactly the software that meets their requirements. This is because a vendor-neutral archive allows a “best-in-class” approach to be taken. In other words, the hospital IT department can integrate exactly the viewer that the medical staff prefers with the VNA, regardless of the PACS.

Conclusion: Investment in the future

The separation of PACS and archive through a vendor-neutral archive provides hospitals with more flexibility, cost efficiency and future security. Investing in a (cloud) VNA today ensures a long-term, vendor-independent, interoperable solution for the growing challenges of digital medicine.

Are you interested in Vendor Neutral Archiving?

Telepaxx offers vendor-neutral solutions for image data management in hospitals. Let us advise you now!