SK Telecom's X Caliber enters N.American pet market

South Korea's SK Telecom Co. announced on Monday that it signed a distribution agreement with Canadian pet medical equipment company Nuon & Nikki for the distribution of X Caliber in Canada.

Nuon & Nikki is a company established in October last year by Nuon Imaging, a Canadian pet medical prevention company, and Nikki Health Solutions, a manufacturer of radiology equipment and software.

SK Telecom plans to integrate X Caliber with Nuon & Nikki's veterinary imaging software Skyline PACS and provide it to about 100 animal hospitals in Canada starting next month.

They have agreed to create a diagnostic assistance solution optimized for North America using local pet data and to collaborate on research to enhance the service.

SK Telecom has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with US veterinary imaging equipment distributor MyVet Imaging to introduce X Caliber.

Along with the MOU, the two companies have begun proof of concept (PoC) at a large animal hospital in New Jersey.

SK Telecom plans to reflect the needs of US animal hospitals and finalize a commercial contract within the third quarter of this year.

X Caliber, first launched in South Korea in September 2022, utilizes AI to assist veterinarians in diagnosing diseases by analyzing pet X-ray images.

It's expanding its reach to overseas markets such as Australia and Singapore.

As its global expansion accelerates, SK Telecom plans to add two new AI automatic measurement solutions.

Write to Seung-Woo Lee at leeswoo@hankyung.com