The figure below compares Rapid Migration methodologies to conventional migration methods. Conventional methods request the legacy PACS server software to retrieve image data from internal Image Storage and send it out using DICOM STORE operations. In Third-Party migration, the retrieved data is sent directly to the new PACS; in Store-and-Forward migration the data is sent to the migration appliance, which forwards it to the new PACS. In contrast, Rapid migration reads image storage directly, bypassing the legacy PACS server software altogether and using independent Migration Server hardware to transform legacy image data into DICOM output streams. Rapid Migration thus offers greater speed and lower load on aging legacy systems still serving clinical operations.
Nonetheless, conventional migration is still appropriate in a number of situations. Laitek offers Store-and-forward migration services, as described in the following section. For do-it-yourselfers, Laitek offers MigrateNow!™, a free tool for 3rd Party Conventional Migration.
Rapid migration server software must be customized to each “make and model” of legacy PACS. In Migratek servers, this customization is contained in a module called a “Source Connector”. Laitek has developed Source Connectors for the following systems:
