THE AUSTRIAN ACADEMIC COMPUTER NETWORK AND ITS USEFULNESS FOR TELERADIOLOGY

To study the value of the Austrian Academic Computer Network (ACOnet) for teleradiology, 1740 test image data-sets and 620 image data-sets w ere exchanged between the departments of diagnostic radiology of the U niversities of Innsbruck and Graz using the ACOnet service. Data trans mission was reliable and fast with an average transfer capacity of 170 kByte/s (range 94-341). During the test phase, no major problems with image transfer occurred. Assuming that problems like security of pati ent data-sets, data compression and data verification can be solved, t he ACOnet service would be a useful additional tool for telemedicine a pplications throughout Austria and eastern Europe.