| Nearly a decade ago, Royal Philips Electronics of | | | | Philips adopted Witt Biomedical Corporation, the |
| the Netherlands fathered Philips Healthcare | | | | largest independent supplier of Cath Lab |
| Services and appears determined that their | | | | monitoring and reporting systems. |
| subsidiary will soon become King of the medical | | | | In its pursuit to be crowned King of the Medical |
| equipment industry. This move apparently came in | | | | Equipment industry, Philips Healthcare Services has |
| response to GE Medical Systems' announcement | | | | obtained 6 businesses since its inception in 1998. |
| that it planned on becoming king itself of the | | | | Every single one of the 6 has stretched Philips' |
| ultrasound industry before the year 2000. Not to | | | | offerings to include a total of ten medical imaging |
| be "out-royaled", Philips from the first year | | | | modalities, from CT to MRI to x-ray, along with |
| started an acquisition frenzy so they could expand | | | | defibrillation and cardiac monitoring equipment plus |
| its subsidiary's product portfolio well beyond its | | | | image and information management solutions. |
| initial product line, which started in 1918 with | | | | So, has Philips moved into the royal industry |
| medical x-ray tubes. | | | | castle yet? Some believe so. In fact, before the |
| At the end of Philips Healthcare Services first | | | | last two acquisitions, Palo Alto's "growth |
| year, Philips Electronics added digital ultrasound | | | | consulting" company Frost & Sullivan thought so. |
| systems to PHS's portfolio by getting ATL | | | | In 2004 Frost & Sullivan announced they were |
| Ultrasound of Washington. Only two years after, | | | | giving Philips 5 awards for "technology and |
| in late 2000, Philips grew into nuclear medicine by | | | | services innovation and industry leadership". Philips |
| absorbing ADAC Laboratories of California. | | | | was recognized for making distinguished |
| In 2001 was a very productive year as Philips | | | | contributions to the cardiac resuscitation and |
| went into a very high gear by obtaining two more | | | | medical imaging industries and for providing |
| businesses and their product lines - Agilent and | | | | leadership in these market segments. |
| Marconi Medical. By procuring Agilent Technologies | | | | Was Frost & Sullivan just searching for a place at |
| Healthcare Solutions Group of Massachusetts, | | | | the royal court or were these genuine kudos? |
| Philips catapulted past GE Medical as the leader of | | | | Probably the later. F&S held interviews with a |
| the ultrasound sector. Philips absorbed Agilent's | | | | myriad of market players along with their |
| expertise in the areas of diagnostic cardiology, | | | | customers and suppliers, and reportedly did great |
| automated defibrillators, patient monitoring, and | | | | research into the medical equipment technology |
| point of care diagnostic systems. | | | | field. |
| Marconi Medical Systems of Ohio, formerly Picker | | | | One of the 5 awards included the regent-like titles |
| International, was already a big player in its own | | | | of "Medical Imaging Company of the Year", "New |
| right among major global CT suppliers. With | | | | Care Setting of the Year", and "Medical Imaging |
| Marconi, Philips gained cutting-edge multi-slice CT | | | | Technology of the Year". The other two were |
| technology along with cardiology, oncology and | | | | for Technology Leadership and Services |
| PET/CT imaging applications. These two | | | | Innovation Leadership. |
| acquisitions in 1 year landed Philips in the top 3 for | | | | The response of Jouko Karvinen, of Philips Medical |
| the entire medical equipment industry along with | | | | Systems, to the awards sounded like the exact |
| giants Siemens and GE Medical - some say as | | | | same of an industry coronation speech. He stated, |
| number two. | | | | "We proudly accept the Frost Sullivan Awards as |
| Back in 2005, the growth continued as Philips | | | | an independent validation of Philips business and |
| bought Stentor, Inc. of California, provider of | | | | technology leadership. These 5 awards are further |
| best-in-class picture archiving and communications | | | | indicators that Philips continues to set the industry |
| systems (PACS). This move allowed Philips to aid | | | | standard for developing innovative products that |
| its clients successfully manage the many amounts | | | | help treat patients and save lives." |
| of imaging data created by its medical scanners. | | | | NOTE: Use of this article requires links to be intact. |
| Then, the following year, the growth continued as | | | | |