a plurality of storage devices, where at least one of the storage devices has a cost characteristic that differs from the cost characteristics of the other storage devices;

means for receiving, over the network, a message that includes:

a request category, wherein the request category includes at least one of a store category, a retrieve category, and a restore category; and

at least one parameter extracted from metadata that includes information related to at least one of acquired image data, stored image data, and patient information;

a business rules processor communicatively coupled to the means for receiving that is operable to:

identify, from the received message, a set of stored rules related to the request category;

determine at least one rule in the identified set of stored rules that is satisfied by processing the at least one parameter in the received message in accordance with each rule in the identified set of stored rules; and

produce a reaction object for the satisfied rule; and

archiving means responsive to the produced reaction object to:

store at least one of image data and patient information corresponding to the metadata in at least one of the plurality of storage devices when the satisfied rule is related to the store category;

retrieve at least one of image data and patient information corresponding to the metadata from at least one of the plurality of storage devices when the satisfied rule is related to the retrieve category; and

transfer at least one of image data and patient information corresponding to the metadata from at least one of the plurality of storage devices to another of the plurality of storage devices when the satisfied rule is related to the restore category.