Thermo upgrades monitoring functionality to meet R&D needs

By Simon Pitman

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Microsoft

Thermo Electron, provider of analytical instruments and informatics
for the food and beverage industry is about to unveil the latest
upgrades to its processing monitor equipment in Europe.

The US-based company says the upgrades are in response to manufacturers demands for increasingly sophisticated equipment that can measure every aspect of processing, particularly in the research and development stages.

The company says that crucial changes have been made to the interface and architecture of its laboratory information management system (LIMS), SampleManager, at the ACHEMA 2006 expo, to be held in Frankfurt, German, 15-19 May.

The company will also be exhibiting its Atlas CDS chromatography data system, which now features numerous enhancements in its version 8 release. Both of the updated models will be exhibited at booth B1-C12, Hall 6.1, at the expo.

The SampleManager LIMS has adopted the Microsoft .NET framework while continuing to support existing customers' custom code written in the VGL language. The version 9.0 scheduled for release in Q2 2006, means users will find a modernised user interface that is modeled on the familiar Microsoft template with drag-and-drop and menu/tree functionality.

The company says that when users select data sets, the new, 'inductive' interface simplifies work by presenting only certain, pre-defined tasks or steps that can be followed - a procedure that is claimed to reduce errors and save time.

Offering Microsoft .NET architecture, Thermo's plans for SampleManager include building application-specific functionality for industrial labs so that users in the food and beverage industry will find more of the functionality they require in the base system, and not have to customise the LIMS to meet their needs.

This commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) approach significantly reduces the risks and costs associated with customized implementations, maintenance and upgrades, and, for regulated industries, the cost of validating the system, the company claims.

Thermo director of product development, David Leitham says that the system now brings added flexibility, allowing them to continue to use VGL or upgrade to the .NET system and ultimately providing the opportunity of increased functionality.

The upgraded Atlas system now meand that it had enhanced network resilience as part of effort to provide secure, robust communication between the instrument and Atlas software.

The means that the system now has the ability to import Beckman PeakPro and Target data files natively. The company also says that enhancements have also been made to the instrument control and spectral functionality in the system.

Atlas is built for enterprise applications, providing a single solution that not only integrates data streams from multiple instruments manufactured by multiple vendors, but also tightly integrates with LIMS that typically store summary results for each analysis.

In turn this enables users to access critical data when faced with a decision where the QA/QC source data is needed immediately. The enhancements and interoperability with Thermo's LIMS are designed to regulate reporting and shared data - measures that ultimately aim to enhance productivity.

As well at the two upgraded technologies, the company also says it will be exhibiting a wide range of analytical instrumentation and software aimed at all types of processing industries.

Related topics Processing & Packaging

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