A growing problem in medical imaging is the insufficiency of network transport protocols to address the transport of images over large area networks. DICOM, while an unquestioned success in advancing inter-vendor communication, is based on a TCP/IP protocol which is far from optimal in a WAN environment. Additionally the structure of DICOM messages is sub-optimal for the rapid retrieval and display of image sets.

DeJarnette will demonstrate a non-proprietary, open source protocol, MINT, developed by a consortium of archive, viewing, system integration vendors and Johns Hopkins. The protocol achieves 80+% network bandwidth utilization in transferring image sets from archives to thin client displays. The protocol has been integrated into the company's xDL - Enterprise Document Librarian.