Varian Medical Systems Expands Use of SmartConnect™ Technology For Remote Customer Support | Varian

{ "pageType": "news-article", "title": "Varian Medical Systems Expands Use of SmartConnect™ Technology For Remote Customer Support", "articleDate": "14. May 2004", "introText": "", "category": "Oncology" }

Varian Medical Systems Expands Use of SmartConnect™ Technology For Remote Customer Support

PALO ALTO, Calif. May 14, 2004 Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE: VAR), the world’s leading manufacturer of integrated cancer therapy systems, today announced that it is expanding deployment of its SmartConnect™ solution, to provide proactive, remote customer support for users of the company’s Acuity™ system for planning, simulating, and verifying radiotherapy treatment plans.

“This additional deployment will make it possible for our team to provide immediate response to Acuity customer inquiries,” said Bob Larsen, director of service marketing for Varian Medical Systems.“It will enable our staff to assist our clients remotely by tuning performance, updating software, and solving operational problems. We’ll be able to assist therapists with better usage techniques and provide instructions on how to manipulate Acuity’s tool set to optimize imaging.”

Varian customers using SmartConnect benefit through increased productivity and shortened response time. Instead of waiting for a service engineer to arrive on-site to solve a performance or operational issue, SmartConnect enables remote problem solving, increasing customer uptime and satisfaction. SmartConnect™ technology connects Varian’s customer service department to complex devices at customer sites, so that Varian service personnel can provide real-time support, remotely monitor the equipment, generate performance reports, and diagnose problems.

“This allows for immediate technical assistance to customers in a private and secure manner, improves service call response time, and minimizes downtime,” Larsen said.

“It’s a great first line of defense,” said Tamara Focht, M.S., chief of medical physics at Cape Cod Hospital.“Whenever I run into problems, Varian can take a look at the system online, and I can watch what they’re doing.The engineer doesn’t have to make a trip out here just to diagnose the problem.”

Varian’s SmartConnect technology is based on device relationship management (DRM) software from Axeda Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: XEDA).It requires no phone lines, virtual private networks, or firewall exceptions, and maintains the security of electronic records.

Varian has previously deployed the SmartConnect solution to support over 300 treatment centers using Varian’s VARiS Vision oncology management system and the Millennium™ multileaf collimator, a device that shapes the radiation beam during cancer radiation therapy treatments.
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