Sun Extends JavaTM Technology Support
for Pacs Review Stations and Advanced Medical Visualization Solutions
PALO ALTO, Calif. - December 1, 1998 - Sun Microsystems today announced that
it has significantly enhanced its JavaTM technology over the past year to better
support the growing number of advanced image processing solutions being used by
medical imaging and radiology professionals and organizations worldwide. Enhancements
to the technology that will benefit the medical imaging and radiology community
include support for static gray visuals; fast lookup and retrieval of 8- and 12-bit
images; and the availability of an early access version of the Java Advanced Imaging
(JAI) Application Programming Interface (API) object library.
"Last year, medical imaging professionals were crying out for support from
Java technology for advanced image processing functions," said Bruce Elder,
healthcare industry manager, Sun Microsystems. "Today, we are able to deliver
it to them. Less than 12 months later, we are providing the support that these
professionals need to incorporate Java technology into their mission-critical image
processing solutions."
Java 2DTM API Handles Gray Scale Visuals and Fast Look-up
of Data
Support for static gray visuals has been incorporated into the Java 2D API,
a core API of the Java Development Kit (JDK TM) 1.2, shipping later this year.
The ability to display 256 shades of gray within an application's image is critical
for the successful reading and interpretations (or diagnosis) of vital patient images.
In addition, JDK 1.2 software will support fast look-up operations for 8- and 12-bit
gray scale images utilizing Direct Graphic Access (DGA) in Sun's SolarisTM operating
environment and DirectDraw on Win32. This enables window/level operations to be
performed directly in the framebuffer, thus enhancing the performance of images
using Java technology.
TechSource, a Java technology user, has incorporated the DGA support for Sun desktop
solutions, and supports the use of Java technology in solutions. "The DGA
software in the Solaris operating environment significantly boosts the performance
of Java technology for critical functions such as Window/Level Look-up operation,"
said Van Ramich, director, product sales, TechSource. According to Peter Steven,
chief technology officer, DOME imaging systems, a leading provider of high-end frame
buffers for medical imaging, "We view Java technology as a strategic component
in future imaging solutions. Our plans to add DGA support for Java technology into
our product line is part of our commitment to support Java technology today and
beyond."
New Open Imaging Library Delivers Sophisticated Imaging
Capabilities
The JAI API is a network-centric imaging framework that is secure, platform
independent and scaleable across the entire healthcare enterprise. The API brings
high-level features and functionality to image processing solutions, such as tiling,
deferred execution, multiprocessor scalability and a rich set of operators that
are ideal for medical and radiological visualization.
An advanced set of image processing operators like polynomial warps and image subtractions
makes the development of advanced visualization applications using Java technology
easier.
As a standard Java extension API, JAI is compatible with the Java 2D API, allowing
developers to easily extend the image processing capabilities and performance of
Java 2D applications.
Sun will be showcasing its Java technology and medical imaging solutions using
the technology at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Annual Conference,
November 29 - December 4, 1998, in Chicago.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network Is The ComputerTM,"
has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW) to its position as a leading
provider of high quality hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide
Intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $10 billion in
annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the World Wide
Web at http://www.sun.com.
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