CARY, N.C.--Marking a significant milestone in the remote care of medical equipment, Siemens Medical Solutions announces the 10,000th proactive connection to its Siemens Remote Service (SRS) infrastructure. A Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. will be the next to join a network of systems worldwide benefiting from being connected to the SRS infrastructure. This innovative proactive remote service technology makes it possible to prevent and detect potential system problems in some cases before they result in unscheduled downtimes - helping customers get the most out of their technology while improving patient care and driving down costs.

SRS helps health facilities keep medical systems operating optimally and prevent unnecessary downtime. Whereas a traditional reactive remote service would require technicians to dial into a medical system for diagnosis and repair, services like the Guardian Program(TM), powered by SRS, work off of this remote technology. These services help save valuable time by enabling systems to report directly to the Siemens Uptime Service Center in Cary, N.C. in real time before a critical situation arises. For example, if a problem or deviation is detected in a system (e.g. the gantry temperature of a computed tomography (CT) system deviating from a specified value), a status message is automatically sent to the Uptime Service Center, where a technical service engineer is available to consult with a customer within minutes. If the problem is not easily corrected remotely via SRS, a field engineer is deployed to provide onsite support or to replace any defective parts - and the process may begin without customers placing a single call.

"Since the launch of the SRS, high availability of our customers medical systems has always been our top priority," said Randy Hill, senior vice president, National Service, Customer Solutions Group, Siemens Medical Solutions. "The connection of the 10,000th system, together with our customers' high acceptance of the service marks an important milestone in our strategy to transition from reactive break-fix service to preventive, predictive care and service."


With SRS in place, customers worldwide are benefiting from the remote service infrastructure. Depending on the type of system, the remote fix rate is up to 50 percent. First developed for Siemens' CT and PACS systems, SRS is now available for a wide range of imaging systems including angiography, fluoroscopy, radiography, magnetic resonance imaging, molecular imaging and ultrasound. To maintain a high level of patient data confidentiality and integrity, SRS uses broadband technology and tight security provisions.

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