DataFirst

What DataFirst does

DataFirst is a privately held healthcare technology company founded in 1989, headquartered in Raleigh, NC (Research Triangle Park), with a U.S.-based engineering and R&D team operating from Melbourne, FL. The company builds the Silverback Workflow Engine — an enterprise-grade platform combining DICOM routing with a fully integrated HL7 engine — to orchestrate imaging data movement across PACS, VNA, RIS, EMR, and EHR systems in multi-vendor, multi-site environments. Silverback is sold in two editions (Enterprise and Pro) and extended with optional modules including the Intelligent QC Module, Silverback Archiver, SCO-to-BTO Converter, Dynamic Migration Engine, and H/A Automatic Failover. Alongside the software platform, DataFirst runs a professional services business executing large-scale PACS, VNA, and EHR data migrations, reporting 2B+ studies migrated, 100+ health systems integrated, 250+ migration projects annually, and 1,000+ Silverback deployments.

The platform is augmented by AI features (anonymization, smart quality checks, predictive reporting) and embeds natively with major healthcare technology vendors including Fujifilm, GE Healthcare, Siemens, Philips, AGFA, Cerner, Konica Minolta, and Dell Technologies. DataFirst holds ISO 27001, ISO 9001:2015, HIPAA, GDPR, EU/U.S. Data Privacy Framework, NHS DSPT, and Astra Security A+ certifications. Its customer base spans academic medical centers, integrated delivery networks, community health systems, teleradiology providers, and radiology practices, with named customers including Kaiser Permanente, Stanford Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Penn Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, WVU Medicine, BayCare Health System, MemorialCare, Providence Health, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Inova Health System, and Everlight Radiology.

DataFirst's revenue model combines recurring subscription licensing of the Silverback platform (quote-based, multi-year contracts) with professional services revenue from data migrations and implementation support. Go-to-market is driven by direct enterprise field sales led by a Global VP of Sales, supported by event-driven demand generation through SIIM and RSNA conferences, content marketing, and recently expanded strategic partnerships with Konica Minolta (co-developed Exa product line), Radiology Partners (exclusive migration services), Gradient Health (AI data ecosystem), and TeleRay (AI imaging integration). The company remains founder-led and independent after 35+ years, with no disclosed venture or private equity backing.

Name

DataFirst

Legal name

DataFirst Corporation

Website

https://datafirst.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

DataFirst is a privately held U.S. healthcare technology company that builds the Silverback enterprise imaging workflow engine, combining DICOM routing with an integrated HL7 engine, and provides data migration services for hospitals, health systems, imaging centers, and radiology practices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Imaging Interoperability Software

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHLACAPAJ

Medical Device Connectivity & Interoperability Middleware (MDI, EHR/HL7/FHIR Integration)

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Digital Health & Health IT/Healthcare IoT & Remote Patient Monitoring

Keywords

• Medical imaging workflow
• DICOM routing
• HL7 integration
• PACS data migration
• Healthcare interoperability

Headquarters

HQ city

Raleigh

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Silverback Workflow Engine Licensing: DataFirst generates revenue primarily through licensing their Silverback Workflow Engine platform to healthcare organizations. The platform is offered in Enterprise and Pro versions with different capability tiers. Deployment options include cloud, on-prem, or hybrid configurations.
2. Data Migration Services: Professional services revenue from enterprise imaging data migration projects including PACS, VNA, DICOM, and legacy system transitions. The company provides end-to-end migration solutions with dedicated specialists.
3. Implementation and Support Services: Deployment, configuration, testing, validation, and ongoing technical support for Silverback implementations. Includes project management and quality assurance services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

DataFirst develops and licenses the Silverback enterprise medical imaging workflow engine — a DICOM routing platform with an integrated HL7 engine that orchestrates image distribution, intelligent prefetch, and rules-based processing across multi-vendor, multi-site healthcare environments. The company complements the platform with turnkey data migration services for PACS, VNA, RIS, EMR, and EHR systems, and ancillary modules such as the Silverback Archiver, Intelligent QC Module, SCO to BTO Converter, H/A Automatic Failover, and Silverback Enterprise Management Portal.

Product overview

DataFirst offers a unified enterprise imaging workflow platform called Silverback, available in two editions: Silverback Enterprise and Silverback Pro. Silverback Enterprise provides advanced DICOM routing and intelligent image distribution, while Silverback Pro adds a fully integrated HL7 engine for unified DICOM and HL7 workflow orchestration. The platform is complemented by DataFirst's professional data migration services for PACS, VNA, RIS, EMR, and EHR systems, and optional modules including the Intelligent QC Module for data quality management, Archiver for legacy storage, SCO to BTO Converter for format standardization, and H/A Automatic Failover for high availability. The Dynamic Migration Engine enables large-scale system transitions. Together, these products provide end-to-end imaging workflow orchestration, interoperability, and data migration capabilities for healthcare organizations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Silverback®: Enterprise-grade workflow and migration engine for healthcare imaging interoperability, DICOM routing, HL7 integration, and data migration. Available as Silverback® Enterprise and Silverback® Pro versions.
• Silverback® Enterprise
• Silverback® Pro
• Migration Engine

Products and services

• Silverback Enterprise Enterprise-grade DICOM routing and image distribution engine for multi-site, multi-vendor healthcare environments, with intelligent image distribution, scalable workflow orchestration, flexible archiving, cloud integration, and disaster recovery options. Sold as a subscription to hospitals, IDNs, imaging centers, and radiology practices.
• Silverback Pro Full interoperability engine that combines Silverback Enterprise's DICOM routing with a fully integrated HL7 engine for intelligent prefetch workflows, seamless data distribution, and unified enterprise imaging orchestration. Sold via subscription.
• Data Migration Services Professional services for large-scale PACS, RIS, VNA, EMR, and EHR data migrations, including custom solutions, turnkey migrations, file-share migrations, enterprise imaging migrations, data cleansing, and HL7 integration. Delivered by a 100% U.S.-based team of migration engineers and project managers.
• Dynamic Migration Engine Purpose-built migration engine supporting validated, secure, large-scale PACS, DICOM, and VNA transitions. Sold as an add-on/option on the Silverback Pro edition.
• Silverback Archiver Legacy imaging storage solution offering short-term, mid-term, or long-term storage of retired studies. Functions as a temporary archive during migrations or as a long-term holding archive for legacy data.
• Intelligent QC Module Quality-control add-on that lets PACS administrators review, adjust, and correct patient demographic data and study metadata, identifying discrepancies before studies are routed to designated targets.
• SCO to BTO Converter Proprietary format converter that transforms legacy SCO exams into the BTO standard for viewing and storage. Operates standalone during mass migrations or as part of the dynamic Silverback prefetch workflow.
• H/A Automatic Failover High-availability deployment option for Silverback that activates a secondary instance sharing the same database and cache; the secondary instance takes over immediately if the principal server fails.
• Silverback Enterprise Management Portal Centralized monitoring and governance interface providing real-time visibility into image network status, active alerts, and unified workflow management across the Silverback deployment.

Quantifiable outcome

• Customer went from 63% first pass success rate to 98% first pass success rate overnight after implementing Silverback
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

AI capability3 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Konica Minolta Healthcare AmericascoreTechnology or Integration · 10 June 2026DataFirst and Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas announced launch of interoperability solutions including Exa Gateway and Exa DICOM Engine powered by Silverback. These solutions address routing challenges when sharing patient imaging data across different PACS and RIS systems. Features include automated study workflow, intelligent prefetch, and rules-based processing for message handling. Partnership targets hospital and radiology practice consolidation challenges.
• Radiology PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025Strategic partnership with Radiology Partners to support data migration and expansion efforts across the US healthcare radiology sector. DataFirst provides exclusive data migration services and showcases new imaging workflow technology at RSNA 2025. Partnership aimed at accelerating growth and market expansion in the radiology sector.
• Gradient HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 November 2025Strategic partnership announced November 6, 2025, designed to enable imaging providers to share de-identified medical data for AI development. Healthcare institutions using DataFirst's Silverback Workflow Engine can contribute data via Gradient's Atlas platform. Creates new revenue opportunities while advancing more representative medical AI systems. Aims to address health inequalities by making it easier for providers of all sizes to participate in medical AI innovation.
• Everlight RadiologycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal teleradiology provider partnership where Silverback Workflow Engine serves as central mechanism handling all DICOM data securely. Silverback unlocked infinitely more scalability for Everlight's business, handling DICOM data distribution at lightning speed. DataFirst team tailored the Silverback technology to meet Everlight's specific needs, shaping the solution collaboratively.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Hyland Software: Hyland's enterprise imaging suite (acquired NilRead, PACSGear) competes in the VNA and enterprise imaging interoperability space served by DataFirst's Silverback engine, targeting similar hospitals and IDNs.
• Agfa HealthCare: Agfa's PACS, VNA, and imaging workflow portfolio targets the same hospital market; DataFirst's leadership team includes former Agfa professionals and integration with Agfa systems is documented.
• Optum (Change Healthcare): Optum's Change Healthcare business operates healthcare data exchange and imaging-related interoperability services at much larger scale, adjacent to DataFirst's HL7 and DICOM routing sweet spot.
• Sectra: Sectra's enterprise imaging and PACS portfolio serves the same radiology/health-system buyers as DataFirst and includes interoperability and migration workflows that overlap with Silverback.
• Konica Minolta Healthcare (Exa): Konica Minolta is both a partner and adjacent vendor: the Exa platform integrates Silverback for DICOM routing and overlaps in serving the same hospital customers for PACS/RIS needs.
• Philips Health Imaging: Philips' IntelliSpace and cardiology informatics portfolio competes in enterprise imaging interoperability; DataFirst's CEO and CTO both previously held senior imaging roles at Philips, and several DataFirst customers are large Philips accounts.

Direct peers

• Visage Imaging: Visage offers enterprise imaging and DICOM workflow tools serving academic medical centers and large IDNs, paralleling DataFirst's Silverback enterprise footprint.
• Mach7 Technologies: Mach7 provides a vendor-neutral imaging archive and workflow platform for healthcare enterprises, directly overlapping with Silverback's DICOM routing, VNA, and migration capabilities.
• Intelerad Medical Systems: Intelerad's InteleConnect and imaging workflow solutions compete in enterprise imaging interoperability and routing, serving the same hospitals and radiology practices DataFirst targets.

Emerging players

• PaxeraHealth: PaxeraHealth provides enterprise imaging and AI-enabled workflow platforms to hospitals globally, competing in adjacent PACS/VNA/AI routing territory where DataFirst's Silverback operates.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/datafirst-corporation
• Xx.com/datafirstcorp

Compliance9 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about DataFirst