Addressing the increasing needs of hospitals for a comprehensive data management solution, Commvault, a global leader in enterprise data protection and information management, and Laitek Inc., a pioneer in rapid data migration and storage services for picture archiving and communication system (PACS) replacements, today announced a multi-faceted, strategic partnership to jointly develop and market clinical data management solutions. To further strengthen the partnership and to ensure alignment of business goals, Commvault has made a strategic investment in Laitek. By combining Laitek's data migration expertise with Commvault's healthcare data protection and information management capabilities, hospitals will be able to take back control of their clinical data, managing and protecting it for the long term.

Today's announcement was made at the 101^st Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, being held November 29 - December 4 in Chicago, IL.

Hospitals are facing increasing pressures to modernize medical imaging and patient record systems, while driving down the costs of data storage and information technology to increase collaboration and drive better patient outcomes. Electronic medical data is exploding in volume due to recent increases in the number of people with access to affordable healthcare and widespread shifts in the industry to make all patient information electronic, creating massive challenges for the retention, protection and efficient, secure recovery of patient data, images and records.   

The new strategic partnership between Commvault and Laitek is aimed specifically at meeting the unique challenges faced by healthcare systems seeking enterprise-wide deployments of data management systems that provide secure, PACS-neutral data, free from vendor dependence, and long term accessibility. The partnership is unique in the healthcare technology industry:  combining proven expertise in data protection and management with pioneering innovation and experience in rapid data migration, storage systems, software and services for healthcare facilities of all sizes.

"Healthcare providers are looking beyond retiring legacy systems - increasingly they want a comprehensive approach to data management that supports a varied and changing mix of clinical applications systems," said Fred M. Behlen, Ph.D., Founder and President, Laitek. "Together the combination of Laitek and Commvault will enable hospital systems to address enterprise data management needs quickly and safely. Our years of experience in the PACS data migration space, combined with Commvault's complementary capabilities in data protection, will create powerful solutions that meet the data management requirements of today's healthcare providers."

"With both companies focused on open, vendor-neutral solutions and faster data migration, designed to significantly drive down costs and provide easy, secure access of patient records through a holistic data management approach, the partnership between Commvault and Laitek is ideally positioned in today's medical imaging market for success," said N. Robert Hammer, Chairman, President and CEO, Commvault. "Commvault's joint solution with Laitek will transform the medical data archival market and will provide a unique value proposition that healthcare enterprises cannot get from other vendors.  At the same time, our partnership with Laitek is expected to provide highly synergistic growth opportunities in this market."  

Under a development and original equipment manufacturing (OEM) agreement, the two companies will deliver a separate, new, medical management solution built on Commvault's recently released data software platform that provides best-in-class data management capabilities while leveraging Laitek's Semperdata platform for rapid, clean and cost effective data migration. The net new, joint solution will be initially aimed at retiring high cost, legacy PACS systems and then be transformed into a full-fledged medical data archive platform that is source, application and storage vendor agnostic. The open, agnostic nature of both platforms will provide the customer with a true vendor-neutral archive (VNA) solution. The solution is expected to be delivered to the market in the first quarter of 2016.

Commvault and Laitek will take the joint solution to market together under the Commvault brand with Laitek providing sales, marketing, migration services and technical support to enhance the Commvault healthcare market offerings. Current Laitek customers will benefit from easier access to the broad range of data protection and information management capabilities resident in the Commvault integrated solutions portfolio, and Laitek partners will find increased opportunities as Laitek's footprint expands with Commvault. The partnership will accelerate Commvault's healthcare business, building on its existing base of healthcare customers across the hospital, insurance, payment processing and pharma - life sciences sectors. In a related announcement, Commvault outlined how it is helping Quanticate, the world's largest data-focused Clinical Research Organization (CRO), better address compliance and data protection issues while embarking on its journey to the cloud.