Siemens and Dell Partner to Offer New Imaging PCs

Datamation content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.

In the IT world, the lifespan of the average PC has typically been, prior to the recession, about three years. Once a PC passed its third birthday, it was considered ready for replacement as it became more prone to breaking down, while PC vendors accelerated their obsolescence by making parts less available and more expensive.

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Siemens Healthcare Sector, one of the largest suppliers to the health-care industry, have partnered to offer Dell Precision T5500 Long-Life workstations to Siemens’ ultrasound system customers.

This will provide the medical industry with a PC configuration that will remain fixed for three years from the launch date. That lifespan is unusual in the industry, where configurations usually change every six months. It ensures that Siemens will have a consistent platform for three years and a ready supply of parts for several years after that.

“Our plan is to grow this program to include multiple platforms across different product lines, so we can offer tailored OEM-class products that are collaboratively designed to meet very specific needs,” Rick Froehlich, vice president and general manager of Dell OEM Solutions, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to have Siemens as a foundational customer to help build this innovative new OEM program.”

While the IT sector at large generally tolerates three-year life spans, the medical industry is an area that wants as little disruption as possible. This deal will provide longer manufacturing lifecycles, service and dependable system stability to address the industry’s specific needs.

Siemens and Dell worked together to design the Dell Precision T5500 Long-Lifecycle, and it’s no slouch of a desktop (specs herein PDF format). Users have a choice of single- or dual-processor designs, powered by Xeon 5500 processors and up to 48GB of triple-channel memory. The towers come with dual native PCIe x16 Gen 2 graphics slots, allowing for up to four monitors on one PC.

Dell has also negotiated specific supplier agreements on key components to provide longer life support for the products and to increase hub stocking levels to avoid disruptions to the supply of parts. Customers can also choose between Windows 7 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

The Dell Precision T5500 Long Life Workstation is available now from Dell and Siemens.

Andy Patrizio is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.