An image archiving system is provided comprising at least one modality for creating images, at least on workstation for viewing and analyzing the images, at least one archive for storing the images, a proxy to handle the data communication between the modality, workstation and archive and a network for communicably connecting the components of the system. Images and other data associated with the images to be archived may be sent to a proxy to determine which of the archives the images and other data should be stored and the proxy archives the images and other data in the appropriate archive.