SKT’s ‘X Caliber’ Enters North American Pet Market

SK Telecom (SKT) is set to expand its AI-based pet diagnostic assistant solution, ‘X Caliber,’ into the largest pet market in the world, North America, following its launches in Australia and Indonesia.

SKT announced that it has signed a distribution agreement for ‘X Caliber’ in Canada with Nuon&Nikki, a Canadian pet medical equipment company.

On July 15, SKT revealed that it has also established a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the U.S. X-ray equipment distributor Myvet Imaging to introduce ‘X Caliber’ across North America.

Nuon&Nikki is a joint venture established in October last year by Nuon Imaging, a Canadian pet medical equipment firm, and Nikki Health Solution, a manufacturer of radiology equipment and software.

SKT’s ‘X Caliber’ will be integrated with Nuon&Nikki’s veterinary imaging software, ‘Skyline PACS (Picture Archiving & Communication System for Vets),’ and will be provided to approximately 100 animal hospitals in Canada starting in August.

The commercial contract was signed in Toronto, Canada, with the attendance of Son In-hyeok, Head of SKT GS AIX, and Mark Little and PJ Mohajer, Co-CEOs of Nuon&Nikki. At the signing, representatives from the three companies agreed to collaborate on creating a diagnostic assistant solution optimized for North America by utilizing North American pet data and conducting research to enhance the service.

Mark Little, Co-CEO of Nuon&Nikki, said, “We are delighted to introduce a pet AI healthcare service powered by Korea’s excellent AI technology to Canada through this contract. With the recent increase in AI solutions, we hope to lead the AI era in the Canadian veterinary imaging market through our partnership with X Caliber.”

SKT has also signed an MOU with Myvet Imaging, a U.S. veterinary imaging equipment distributor, to introduce ‘X Caliber’ to the U.S. market.

As part of the MOU, the two companies have begun verifying the solution at a large animal hospital in New Jersey. SKT plans to reflect the requirements of U.S. animal hospitals and finalize a commercial contract by the third quarter of this year.

According to market research firm Precedence Research, North America was the largest market in 2023, accounting for 43.14% of the estimated $124 billion global pet market, significantly ahead of Europe (26.43%) and Asia (23.38%).

SKT expects to rapidly expand ‘X Caliber’ and promote the excellence of Korean AI through its entry into the North American pet market.

As ‘X Caliber’ continues its global expansion, SKT plans to add two new AI auto-measurement solutions to increase usability.

Measuring the heart size of pets like dogs and cats is known as an effective method to prevent heart diseases, which are a major cause of death in pets.

Following the existing Vertebral Heart Scale (VHS) auto-measurement, SKT will introduce the AI-based Vertebral Left Atrium Size (VLAS) auto-measurement, another method for measuring the heart size of pet dogs, in the third quarter.

The VLAS function measures the size of the left atrium in a dog’s chest X-ray, allowing the vet to determine if the dog’s heart size is within the normal range. Clinical evaluations have shown that VLAS has an accuracy of 93% (compared to VHS’s 97%). This function received approval from the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency on June 25.

An auto-measurement method for the heart size of pet cats, the Cardio-Thoracic Ratio (CTR), will also be added as a beta version in the third quarter. This solution measures the ratio of chest and heart length in cat chest X-rays and serves as a metric for assessing feline chest diseases, particularly hypertrophy.

These AI solutions quickly measure key metrics that vets currently measure manually, thereby maximizing veterinary work efficiency and reducing diagnosis time, garnering significant interest in the global pet market.

This year, SKT plans to enhance ‘X Caliber’ by adding TPA (Tibial Plateau Angle) auto-measurement, which evaluates knee joint issues in dogs such as patellar luxation and cruciate ligament rupture, and Norberg Angle auto-measurement, used to assess hip dysplasia in dogs and cats.

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