NEW YORK – Not only is storage becoming more critical for hospitals as more information is digitized, but moving vast quantities of data quickly and securely becomes a key issue, too.

More providers are adopting digital radiology, and the management of those images in picture archiving and communications systems. But sharing image studies over older existing networks can take inordinate amounts of time.

As a result, regional integrated delivery systems are looking to new approaches for sending information. For example, networks using end-to-end fiberoptic networks and familiar networking standards offer the potential for moving vast quantities of data at a reasonable price.

North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System expects to implement a metro Ethernet wide area network in the coming months. When completed, it’s expected to offer 10 gigabit per second throughput between system hospitals and data centers that will store images for its enterprisewide PACS system.

Digital radiographic needs for capacity and throughput are large and only going to grow, said John Bosco, vice president and chief technology officer for the system. Datasets from an examination using a 64-slice CT scanner can approach 2 gigabytes, he said.

Moving an entire set of images from one exam can take three to five minutes over its existing network, which uses asynchronous transfer mode technology, Bosco said. That time can be reduced to seconds with the metro Ethernet WAN. “We expect diagnostic images to account for a good 80 percent of bandwidth across the network,” he said.

Much of the reason behind that speed involves bringing fiberoptic cables into the facility for the “last mile” of connectivity, instead of copper cable. Rather than laying its own fiberoptic cable, North Shore-Long Island Jewish is using the services of Optimum Lightpath, which builds and manages the fiberoptic network. The network will also carry voice, video and Internet communication, said Kevin Curran, senior vice president for Optimum Lightpath.

For now, such metro Ethernet-based networks are available in only a few metropolitan areas, but that will be changing as new advancements permit expansion.

The Metro Ethernet Forum has set a goal of widening availability of carrier Ethernet services to everyone by 2010.