GE Recognized for Market Leadership

Frost & Sullivan, a global technology consulting company (Palo Alto, CA, USA), has presented the 2004 Market Leadership award in European mobile medical imaging equipment to GE Healthcare (Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA). Frost & Sullivan commends the company for its outstanding marketing strategy and product capabilities, which have underscored its leadership of the mobile medical imaging field.

In 2003, GE Healthcare acquired Instrumentarium, a Finland-based medical equipment company in order to attain a significant presence in Europe. As part of GE's efforts to drive its business success, GE also acquired Amersham plc, to achieve a strong foothold in the contrast media field.

"This is a significant step for the physician and technician as both the modality and the imaging contrast media used in the imaging equipment would be produced in-house by the same company,” acknowledged Srividya Badrinarayanan, a healthcare analyst from Frost & Sullivan.

One of the major factors for GE's current success has been its commitment to research and development (R&D), technology, and product innovation, with the company allocating almost U.S.$1 billion annually for investment in R&D. The company pioneered the introduction of positron emission tomography (PET) scanners globally, and has also been very successful in introducing its PET scanners in Europe.

"As its revenue continues to increase, GE has focused on new developments such as introduction of 4D [four dimensional] ultrasound scanners and the mobile PET/CT [computed tomography] scanners, which have a considerable application in the field of cancer diagnosis and staging,” elaborated Ms. Badrinarayanan. "GE has also provided certain modifications to its present modalities, thus making them suitable for transportation over long distances.”

GE Healthcare has proven itself as one of the leading companies in five of seven different product segments, which served as a foundation for the Frost & Sullivan analysis of the European mobile medical imaging market. Currently strong in the C-arm and x-ray equipment segments as well as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), CT, and PET, GE now needs to make its way to the top in the hand-carried ultrasound and mammography segments to be recognized as a leading player in the industry.


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