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A few that I've looked in the past are

ImageAccess from Imagic.
Not wanting to sound like I'm slamming Imagic but our support for this
in the US was sorely lacking, basically non-existent.  It took a some
effort to get the system up and running but once it was it was stable
and did what it said.  There is a web version that is probably a better
choice for a large site.  ImageAccess is very modular and everthing
seems to cost extra.  The biggest downfall was that it didn't integrate
with our acquisition systems and thus no one would take the time to go
in and load the images and data into the database.  It does have a
automated server polling capability but that was an additional charge
and only came in a later version than what we had (v4.0).  If we had
some IT support we could perhaps have lived with this but in the end
most users abandoned it.  Overall it is good at what it does but I think
it is really a large scale, industrial or medical, type tool and not
quite flexible enough for smaller site who's needs may change often.

iQBase offers a little more promise as it integrates with Image Pro Plus
but also has its own acquisition control capability.  I only tried a
couple demo versions but I was quite impressed.

My personal feeling is that the best solution has to have good
integration with the acquisition systems to that the hand off of images
and metadata into the Dbase is seemless.  If it requires a lot of
additional computer entry work, most users will probably get lazy with
it pretty quick.

Catalyzer from Axiope is another possible option but I consider this
more along the lines of an electronic notebook or content gathering
tool, but it is very flexible and relatively cheap.  The basic version
is free but limits the size.  They seen pretty good about trying to get
OEM file readers as plug-ins.

If the needs are basic enough Thumbs Plus, ADSee (I think?) or Adobe
Photoshop Album can be surprising useful.

No commercial association with any of the above.

Ian Clements
Invitrogen Corp

-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Simon Walker
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 7:12 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Image management software

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Dear List,
I am interested in what, if any, image database management software 
Facility managers are using.  The kind of software I'm thinking of is 
Image Access or Scimagix.  I can see that these offer potential
benefits, 
but I'm not sure they'd actaully acheive what they claim on the tin.  
Phrases such as "Reevaluate data-rich legacy images easily and 
efficiently" and "Accelerate and improve decision-making, leading to 
improved resource allocation and portfolio management" do not readily 
inspire me to rush out and buy these products.

Are they more hassle than they're worth?  Do Facility users actually use

and benefit from these sytems?

I'm finding it hard to cut through the b/s and would like to hear of 
experiences in the real world.
Thanks,
Simon

Babraham Institute
Cambridge
UK