Ascom partners with Agfa HealthCare for Integrated Wireless Notification System

PRESS INFORMATION

Gothenburg, Sweden 2006-11-27

Ascom Wireless division announces that their wireless communication solutions are being tested for integration with future versions of Agfa HealthCare s IMPAX® enterprise workflow solution. With Ascom s wireless solutions integrated with Agfa HealthCare s IMPAX PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System), clinicians can be notified instantaneously, regardless of where they are located, of a situation that requires their immediate attention. Such clinical result distribution, notification and verification can, for example, help make physicians more accessible, reduce errors and provide alerts if equipment errors occur.

Ascom s wireless solution coupled to Agfa HealthCare s RIS (Radiology Information System), can also vastly improve communication to patient transporters, improving operational efficiency within the hospital and expediting results distribution. Ascom s hierarchical rules ensure that no request or message is left unanswered. Additionally, auditing and reporting ensures that critical results notifications are properly acknowledged and logged.

"By integrating Ascom s solutions with IMPAX, we can further increase patient safety and the quality of care," said David Chambers, vice president, Sales and Marketing Americas, Agfa HealthCare at the occasion of the Radiological Society of North America s (RSNA) 92nd Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting. "At the same time, such added efficiencies serve to lower the cost of healthcare delivery. In this volatile and rapidly changing healthcare environment, Ascom and Agfa HealthCare have anticipated the needs of clinicians, specialists and hospital administrators, and can now provide an integrated tool that provides critical information when it is needed most."

For more information please contact:

- Dahn Jubell, Head of International Segment Business - Ascom (Sweden) AB, +46 31 559434

- Johan Jacobs, Corporate Press Relations Manager, Agfa, +32 (0)3 444 80 15

About Ascom Wireless Solutions

Ascom Wireless Solutions is a market leader in on-site wireless communications for the manufacturing and process industries, hospitals and elderly care, secure establishments, the retail sector and hotels. More than 70,000 systems are installed at major companies all over the world, including the majority of university hospitals in Europe. The company offers a broad range of customised solutions, which enables quicker response through smart integration with existing systems. Ascom solutions can include on-site paging, messaging, alarms, mobile devices, voice and data communications. Founded in the 1950s and based in Gothenburg, Sweden, Ascom Wireless Solutions is a division within the Swiss Ascom Group.

About Agfa

The Agfa-Gevaert Group (Agfa) is one of the world s leading imaging and information technology companies. Agfa develops, manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare) and film related products and specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials). Agfa s headquarters are in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is active in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries throughout the world.

The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 3,308 million Euro in 2005.

Agfa HealthCare supplies hospitals and other healthcare centers with state-of-the-art systems for the capturing, processing and managing of diagnostic images and with IT solutions that integrate information and imaging workflows into the overall hospital operations across departmental disciplines. In addition, Agfa HealthCare is a leader in the fast growing market of IT systems that span the entire healthcare enterprise and through which healthcare facilities become more efficient and effective, with improved patient outcomes.

Dahn Jubell

Head of International Segment Business

Ascom (Sweden) AB

+46 31 559434

dahn.jubell@ascom.se