News | Press Releases

November 21, 2008

Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation Acquires Advanced Visualization Imaging System Division of Barco

Brings Critical Core Competency In-house

TOKYO, Japan, November 21, 2008 - Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Toshiba) announced today that via its newly formed, wholly-owned subsidiary, Toshiba Medical Visualization Systems Europe, Ltd. (TMVS), it has entered into an agreement to acquire the Advanced Visualization Imaging System Division (AVIS) of Barco nv, Edinburgh, Scotland. This acquisition brings in-house critical core competencies -- the development of 3D volume rendering and advanced visualization capabilities for all Toshiba modalities.
"The formation of TMVS establishes a significant multi-modality research and development center in Europe," said Kenichi Komatsu Ph. D., president and CEO, Toshiba Medical, " ensuring Toshiba's unfettered access to leading-edge technology in an area of the world widely acknowledged for its innovations in medicine. This also demonstrates Toshiba's strong commitment to our customers in Europe as well as the healthcare industry worldwide.
"The AVIS team has been conducting research, development and sales of medical 3D visualization software products since 1991 as Voxar Ltd. For the past 10 years, Toshiba has used Voxar 3D visualization core software in its medical imaging products and Picture, Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS). AVIS, as part of Barco, provided advanced visualization solutions for the medical imaging and PACS markets. AVIS was founded with the acquisition of Voxar Ltd. in September 2004.
Toshiaki Nakazato, chief specialist, Research and Development Center, Toshiba Medical, has been named president, TMVS. Calum Cunningham, formerly marketing director, AVIS, will be named senior vice president and general manager.
"TMVS will serve as the foundation of a world-class medical research and development center in Europe," said Dr. Komatsu. "This team will help Toshiba maintain its position as a global medical imaging technology leader and to expand clinical applications research with physicians and medical imaging scientists."
Toshiba is patterning this acquisition after the 2006 acquisition which resulted in the creation of Toshiba Medical Research Institute USA, Inc. (TMRU), a wholly-owned subsidiary. TMRU is a significant research and development center of advanced imaging technologies and clinical applications in the U.S.
Toshiba's global research entities support clinical programs in partnership with luminary academic institutions worldwide to accelerate research and development of clinical applications using Toshiba's advanced imaging systems.

About Barco, Inc.

Barco, a global technology company, designs and develops visualization products for a variety of selected professional markets. Barco has its own facilities for Sales and Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Barco (Euronext Brussels: BAR) is active in more than 90 countries with about 3600 employees worldwide. Barco posted sales of euro 747 million in 2007.

About Toshiba

Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation is an independent group company of Toshiba Corporation. The company is a global leading provider of diagnostic medical imaging systems and comprehensive medical solutions, such as CT scanners, X-ray, ultrasound, Nuclear Medicine , MRI equipment and information systems for medical institutions. Toshiba Corp. is a leader in information and communications systems, electronic components, consumer products, and power systems. Toshiba Corp. has approximately 198,000 employees worldwide and annual sales of $77 billion. For more information, visit www.medical.toshiba.com.