True to our mission, our goal is to provide solutions that improve medical imaging diagnostics for the benefi t of patients and physicians. To this end, we continue to develop our products consistent with current requirements and regulations. As a result, the software solutions listed below are now obsolete and as of October 15, 2019 we will no longer provide support, activations, migrations or replacements for them:

• iQ-VIEW/PRO version 2.8.0.101 or earlier
• iQ-LITE version 2.8.0.101 or earlier
• iQ-3D version 3.1.0 or earlier
• iQ-4VIEW version 2.0.4 or earlier
• iQ-X version 2.2.0.5 or earlier
• iQ-WEB version 6.3.8 or earlier
• iQ-ROUTER/PRO/PREMIUM 2.1 or earlier
• iQ-ROBOT/PRO/PREMIUM 3.0 or earlier
• DICOMReader/PRO 5.0 or earlier

Furthermore, IMAGE Information Systems will no longer activate any software licenses installed on Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 or earlier operating systems – and will no longer provide technical support for iQ software that is installed on these operating systems. This applies to both diagnostic and non-diagnostic use.

IMAGE Information Systems provides you with a full range of newer products, with more enhanced functionality and more reliability in the face of current security issues. Upgrade now to make your daily work as effi cient as possible.

You may ask what if the enduser chooses NOT to upgrade now?

There are many important reasons why you should keep a software product up to date. Although the software appears to continue to run perfectly well on an outdated platform without current updates, it can be deceiving to think oneself safe. With updated solutions, you can save yourself not only time and money, but also a lot of inconvenience.

The following points must be observed:

Security Issues

It doesn’t matter how long a software product has been on the market. Both proven and new software are vulnerable to security gaps. To prevent your medical networks from hacker attacks and malicious software it is essential to upgrade to the latest software versions and operating system. The majority of ransom attacks with crypto viruses happen in the healthcare sector on a daily basis. Security updates are designed to minimize the risk of these attacks. (In addition, do not forget that your web browser is also software!) Continuing to use Windows XP and Windows 7 is as if someone would be continuously in the background of your computer watching what you are doing. It is possible to hack into almost any server connected to the internet if it does not have all software components updated, whether databases, web servers, application servers or the operating system. If you would like proof, please ask IMAGE for a lifehack demonstration. It usually takes less than 10 minutes.

Regulatory or Legal Issues

Failure to implement updates/upgrades can quickly put regulatory and legal issues on your agenda. A classic example is the adaptation of legal text, such as patient consent forms, in portals. As laws are adapted and changed, it is the legal responsibility of the healthcare provider to comply with them. Without current updates that take these legal changes into consideration, there is a risk of being in violation of the law. For example, most old DICOM viewers have measurement issues, in that they will display measurements on images of new devices, but the measurements are inconsistent and no longer accurate on new viewers. In addition, most viewers are unable to show the incompatibility! Imagine the difficulties in accurately measuring cancer tumor size.

Incompatibility

Compatibility problems may occur if different software versions are used. For example, if the newest version supports file formats like enhanced DICOM, dose reports or 3rd party structured reports from previous studies, it is possible that the older version cannot. In order to take advantage of the full potential of a product, it needs to be updated regularly.

Decreased Reliability

From time to time, errors creep into software solutions that can only be corrected by upgrades. Take advantage of these enhancements and do not give unnecessary bugs a chance to make your daily work more difficult. These issues can happen suddenly, and may cause system crashes leading to facility downtime and significantly increased costs.

Outdated Skills

This is similar to the example made under the Incompatibility topic. The latest version of a software or operating system has far more options and improved functionality to make your daily work easier, saving you time, money and, above all, frustration.

Cost

The fact that the use of outdated software generates undesirable costs has already been clearly demonstrated above. In the worst case, you can unintentionally violate the law. In another scenario, you may have problems with your outdated software solution because it no longer operates properly with your current operating system. However, you will not necessarily know that this is the reason for the faulty performance of your program. If you request support, you will then incur two separate costs: first for the support itself and second, for the recommended upgrade to the new version. All of this extra cost can be avoided simply by maintaining the most up-to-date versions.

As you can see, upgrades and updates are essential if you want to stay competitive. Save yourself a great deal of time and money and update as soon as possible.

Below you can find answers and recommendations to several questions that have been sent to IMAGE.

I couldn´t migrate all of my iQ licenses before October 15 – What do I do now?

Please contact your IMAGE sales partner or IMAGE ASAP in order to discuss a customized/delayed product and system migration in order to avoid system downtime.

I cannot migrate to Windows 10 as I use other software which requires Windows 7!

Migrate to Windows 10 and execute the other software in the Windows 7 compatibility mode.

I cannot afford upgrading all of my iQ software now to Windows 10

The most affordable way to ensure that you have the latest version of our software is to maintain your Annual Service Packages. However, if those packages are currently not up-to-date, we understand that it may not be easy to afford an upgrade of all your software at once. That’s why we offer some very affordable options to help you manage your cash flow. Please contact your sales representative to learn more.

Our organization did not validate newer iQ software yet.

Get us in contact with your organization’s cyber security or IT analyst. We´ll provide all related information.

To downlaod the paper, please click here.

Background concerning End of Life Windows 7

Microsoft will stop supporting Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 products, as those products are obsolete. In October 2009, Microsoft launched its Windows 7 operation system. After 10 years of commitment to providing product support, the company is now phasing out help at the beginning of 2020 - the product has reached the End of Life stage within its lifecycle. As a result, technical support will not be provided through updates to protect the PC. As a medical device manufacturer, we must ensure that our software products only run on supported operating systems for safety reasons. Consequently, potential cyber-attacks are waiting at open doors for those who keep using the systems beyond the deadline of January 14, 2020.