Every IMPAX installation is based on the following main components:
Network Gateway
Archive
Oracle Server or SQL Server
Application Server
Curator
IMPAX Clients—Local and Remote
The sum of these components is called the cluster. An IMPAX cluster is the set of core IMPAX components that are attached to one database server. Modalities and the HIS or RIS are outside of the cluster. SPFTP/ASPFTP is used for communication within the IMPAX cluster. Any third-party display stations are considered to be outside the cluster. They use DICOM to communicate with the cluster.
A typical institution has a Database Server, one or more Archive Stations, one or more Network Gateways, and one or more Curators. Local Clients are spread throughout the entire enterprise, as well as remote Clients outside the enterprise firewall. These connect to one or more Application Server machines, which act much like a proxy machine to handle security, authentication, and communication with the IMPAX Server components.
When images are transmitted to the IMPAX cluster, the Network Gateway performs validation of the study images and data. Validation requires the Network Gateway to query the HIS/RIS and ensure that the study and patient demographics match what is currently incoming from a modality or a transmit device. IMPAX can HIS verify against and access reports from multiple Connectivity Managers for multiple RIS domains within a single IMPAX cluster. If the validation is successful, the images are "allowed" into the system and are routed to the Database Server.
The Database Server collects and manages all patient and study demographic data. The Database Server forwards the study images to the Archive Server, where the images are saved in local cache until they are permanently stored in the DICOM archive.
The IMPAX Client, both local and remote, is used to view study images. Clients can connect to a local cache, or to a web cache of compressed images generated by the Curator. When a study is diagnosed and dictated, the status of the study is updated at the Database Server, and when a report is generated, it is forwarded to the HIS/RIS.