Siemens Medical and Wind River: Whole-Body Scan in less than 12 minutes

Tel-Aviv, Feb 17 2004 - Wind River Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: WIND), the worldwide market leader in embedded software and services, today announced that Siemens Medical Solutions is one step ahead of its competition with the MAGNETOM Avanto, Magnetic Resonance (MR) system for body scanning.

The MAGNETOM Avanto, based on Siemens’ new and innovative Total imaging matrix (Tim™) technology, allows for whole-body imaging with excellent image quality and in a single session. As a result, the exposure time for a scan from head to toe is now reduced to 12 minutes, which is an impressive improvement for the workflow in hospitals and private practices. Tim technology also completely opens up new dimensions, for example, in cancer diagnostics and staging.

Siemens Medical Solutions worked with Wind River to develop software for the MAGNETOM Avanto. Thanks to Wind River’s technology the time spent on the development, integration, debugging and testing of the software was greatly reduced.

The Tim software was developed using Wind River’s tools and enterprise licence model. Siemens Medical Solutions used Wind River’s VxWorks Developers Toolkit (VDT) to program the Pentium-based control PC under the real-time operating system VxWorks, The source code analysis and browsing tool SNiFF+, which is part of Wind River’s VDT, has considerably increased efficiency of this complex C++ application.

“Following two years of development, from the idea to the product, it is clear that Siemens Medical Solutions has launched its products faster than the competition”, commented Jürgen Gut, technical project leader of Siemens Medical. “This medical discipline is still very young and the market is characterised by an immense R&D effort. The new Tim technology provides us with a wide competitive edge over other manufacturers.”

“This product demonstrates our leadership in the medical industry sector, which is one of the strategic growth markets of Wind River”, points out Ralf Fachet, Market Development Manager. “At first, Siemens used standard VxWorks; which was followed by the deployment of VxWorks Developers Toolkit (VDT), which offered higher flexibility and more functionality. We believe this confirms that our integrated platforms initiative addresses customers’ need for a company-wide useable software platform in combination with a service-oriented business model. The customers don’t need to restrict themselves to a special processor technology, nor to the location of development or application.”

The world’s first MAGNETOM Avanto was installed at the University Hospital in Tübingen, Germany. In the US, the first MAGNETOM Avanto was installed at the NYU Medical Centre.

About Tim™ Technology
The MAGNETOM Avanto is the first Siemens MR system to fully incorporate Tim. The heart of Tim or the Total imaging matrix is the revolutionary matrix coil design that allows the combination of 76 coil elements with up to 32 RF channels [76x32] — a combination that enables considerable improvements in both acquisition speed and image quality.

To date, a high-resolution whole-body examination required multiple coil changes and adjusting the patient’s position. Tim instead changes all this; for the first time it is possible to perform a whole-body scan from head to toe with surface coil resolution within a single examination — for patients as tall as 205 cm. Tim completely opens up new dimensions, for example, in cancer diagnostics and staging. Instead of several segments of patient anatomy Total imaging matrix provides the same sharp detailed definition across the entire body. The analysis of tumors and systemic metastases distributed across several parts of the body is greatly facilitated, improving the diagnostic confidence. The same applies to vascular anatomy or the central nervous system.
At the same time, Tim sets new standards in patient comfort. The receive coils, positioned on the region of the body for MR image acquisition, are very light weight due to their special and open design. The so-called Body Matrix coil for the Total imaging matrix weighs as little as 950 grams. Another feature in an effort to comfort the patient is the ability of Tim and MAGNETOM Avanto to scan the patient feet-first. This means that the patient's head remains outside of the measurement tunnel for many scan procedures.
In addition, the new method enhances Parallel Acquisition Techniques, known as PAT, that further increase acquisition speed and image resolution. This is especially advantageous when examining moving organs, such as the heart or the intestines. Tim allows for the first time to perform parallel imaging in all directions, across the entire body - without the need for the previously required, specific PAT coils. The physician can freely select clinically relevant areas, from individual body regions to the complete anatomy. This can easily be done without limitations as to the number of coils that can be connected and used simultaneously. The Tim application suite provides special routines covering a variety of clinical applications ranging from neurological, cardiological or oncological exams to angiography, orthopedics as well as pediatrics. As a result, the clinical workflow is greatly improved, enabling a far better patient throughput - and all this at excellent image resolution and thus optimal image quality.

About Wind River

Wind River is the global leader in device software optimization (DSO). Wind River enables companies to develop and run software faster, better, less expensively and more reliably. Wind River Platforms tightly integrate a rich set of market-leading operating systems, development tools and middleware with services to provide a complete foundation that meets the specific requirements of a vertical market. Wind River's products and professional services are used in multiple markets including aerospace and defence, automotive, digital consumer, industrial, and network infrastructure. Companies from around the world turn to Wind River to create the most reliable products and to accelerate their time to market.

Founded in 1981, Wind River is headquartered in Alameda, Calif., with operations worldwide. To learn more, visit Wind River at http://www.europe.windriver.com or call Wind River at +44 (0)1793 831 831.

About Siemens Medical Solutions
Siemens Medical Solutions of Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) with headquarters in Malvern, Pennsylvania and Erlangen, Germany, is one of the largest suppliers to the healthcare industry in the world. The company is known for bringing together innovative medical technologies, healthcare information systems, management consulting, and support services, to help customers achieve tangible, sustainable, clinical and financial outcomes. From imaging systems for diagnosis, to therapy equipment for treatment, to patient monitors, hearing instruments and beyond, Siemens innovations contribute to the health and well-being of people across the globe, while improving operational efficiencies and optimizing workflow in hospitals, clinics, home health agencies, and doctors' offices. Employing approximately 31,000 people worldwide and operating in more than 120 countries, Siemens Medical Solutions reported sales of 7.6 billion EUR, orders of 8.4 billion EUR and group profit of 1 billion EUR for fiscal 2002.

Wind River Systems and the Wind River Systems logo are trademarks of Wind River Systems, Inc., and VxWorks is a registered trademark of Wind River Systems, Inc. Third party marks and brands are the property of their respective holders.