The following is a wrap-up of news of interest during
the months of January and February 1998.
Pittcon Preview ... A number of vendors are announcing
new products and services at Pittcon, some of these are collected here so
that you can plan to visit those of interest during the conference.
LIMS Presentations Sought for LIMS '98 Conference
... The deadline has been extended to submit abstracts for the upcoming
Twelfth International LIMS Conference (LIMS '98). The new deadline is April
1, 1998. For details, see the LIMS
Conference listing....
In other news....
Advanced Chemistry Development Announces SLIMS
EPA Releases CD-ROM with Approved Test Methods
for Wastewater and Drinking Water
Three Scientific Publishers Join Online Journals
Site
MB Solutions Announces MAX/2000 for MVS
National Instruments Announces New Embedded VXI
Controllers
Perkin-Elmer Nelson Announces SQL*LIMS for Power
Macintosh
QSI Announces Release of
TracQA/98
Thermo LabSystems Introduces New Windows Stability
Module
Thermo LabSystems Chosen as Global Supplier
for BP
Thermo LabSystems and Waters Corporation Announce
Agreement Licensing LabSystems to Control Waters' 2690 Alliance HPLC Systems
Advanced Chemistry Development Announces
SLIMS
Advanced Chemistry Development (ACD) has announced SLIMS, a platform independent
web-based LIMS application that offers access to a tool kit that includes
sample management and tracking; sample statistics and analysis; sample hierarchies
including new sample, pool sample, active sample and abandoned sample; structure
management database module incorporating ACD Structure Drawing Java Applet
technology; spectral management database module for management of NMR, MS,
IR, UV-Vis, Raman, LC and other spectral curve technologies; download capability
for spreadsheets, reports of analysis, chemical structures and spectra;
and full system administrator privileges for defining individual user permissions.
SLIMS can be configured to the local environment, with login screens, reporting
details and statistics requirements unique to the installed environment
defined according to user requirements. Legacy information databases of
employee directories, tests, quality documentation and hazard information
can all be configured to be accessible through the SLIMS system. For details,
visit the ACD web site at http://www.acdlabs.com/slims/
EPA Releases CD-ROM with Approved Test
Methods for Wastewater and Drinking Water
The US EPA has just released a new CD-ROM that contains all of the agency's
approved test methods for wastewater and drinking water. Called "EPA
Methods and Guidelines for Analysis of Water," the new CD-ROM includes
all of the agency's 500, 600, and 1600 series methods (more than 330 methods),
including all text, tables, diagrams, flowcharts and figures. Thousands
of hypertext links provide instant navigation between the table of contents,
the comprehensive list of analytes and the related/recommended methods.
The new CD-ROM is available from NEIS for $US120, plus $US5.00 shipping
and handling. For details, contact NEIS at P.O. Box 48, Angel Fire, NM 87710
USA. Tel: 800-729-1964 or 505-377-1224. Fax: 800-776-6904 or 505-377-1225.
Web: http://www.neis.com/neis.html
Three Scientific Publishers Join Online
Journals Site
The American Insitute of Physics, Chapman & Hall, and the Institute
of Physics are now making their journals accessible online through ChemPort,
an online journals site. ChemPort incorporates all 26 of the American Chemical
Society's journals -- which include topics ranging from biochemistry to
environmental science -- as well as journals from seven other publishers.
In all, more than 200 journals are accessible through ChemPort. For details,
surf the ChemPort site at http://www.chemport.org.
MB Solutions Announces MAX/2000 for MVS
MB Solutions has announced new features in MAX/2000, a powerful Year-2000
conversion tool-set from MAX Software LLC. MAX/2000 automates a broad range
of Year-2000 conversion tasks and processes including assessment, planning,
documentation, date-code detection, file conversion, test-file generation,
application testing, test validation, and implementation. Features include
JCL relationship reporting, date code scanning capabilities, date aging,
intelligent compare processing, load module analysis, and file reformatting.
For price and details, contact MB Solutions at 1720 South Bellaire Street,
Suite 106, Denver, CO 80222. Tel: 303-782-0178. Fax: 303-782-4703. Web:
http://www.max2000.com
National Instruments Announces New Embedded
VXI Controllers
National Instruments has announced its first ever B-size embedded VXI Controller,
the VXIpc-600 Series which offers MMX performance and a low cost solution
for VXI control. The VXIpc-600 Series is VXI plug and play compliant and
features powerful MITE and MANTIS custom ASICs for high performance operation.
In addition, the company's existing series of VXIpc-700 and VXIpc-800 embedded
VXI computers are now compatible with the VxWorks real-time operating system.
When combined with National Instruments NI-VXI driver software for VxWorks,
the VXIpc-700/800 Series can solve time critical challenges that demand
real-time performance not delivered by desktop operating systems like Windows
NT or Windows 95. For details, contact National Instruments at (512) 794-0100
or visit their web site at http://www.natinst.com.
Perkin-Elmer Nelson Announces SQL*LIMS
for Power Macintosh
PE Nelso has announced that its industry-standard SQL*LIMS client/server
LIMS is now available for use with Power Macintosh desktop computers. The
SQL*LIMS client application is implemented entirely with Oracle Developer/2000
tools and runs on the easy-to-use, intuitive Macintosh Operating Systems,
Mac OS. For more details, contact PE Nelson at (203) 762-4000 or 888-PE-CHROM.
QSI Announces Release of TracQA/98
QSI has announced the release of a Visual Basic developed version of TracQA,
their test information management system. TracQA is a test process management
system used for documenting, tracking, reporting, and managing tests --
for either one or several applications across multiple releases. Previous
versions of TracQA have been developed in Magic, a 4th gneeration language.
TracQA/98 works on any platform with all ODBC compliant databases, with
versions available for NT, Windows 95, and Windows 3.11. For details, contact
QSI at 203-699-9787 or 800-557-9787
Thermo LabSystems Introduces New Windows
Stability Module
Product shelf-life and stability tests are facilitated with Thermo LabSystems'
new Windows-based module for analyzing and testing product stability over
time. The new Stability v3.2 module is a highly specialized shelf life analysis
tool for use with LabSystems' SampleManager client/server LIMS. This new
Windows release of Stability is an extended functionality module which now
provides a user-friendly graphical user interface, reporting through third
party applications, full right mouse button control and inventory control
management functionality. For details, contact LabSystems at 800-719-1853
or surf their web site at http://www.labsystems.com
Thermo LabSystems Chosen as Global Supplier
for BP
BP Oil has awarded Thermo LabSystems with a three-year contract worth $US3M
for the supply of LIMS. The contract covers sites in Australia, the USA,
the United Kingdom, Spain, South America and the Far East, with the first
sytems being installed in 1998. For more information, contact Thermo Separation
Products at 800-719-1853 or surf their web site at http://www.labsystems.com
Thermo LabSystems and Waters Corporation
Announce Agreement Licensing LabSystems to Control Waters' 2690 Alliance
HPLC Systems
Thermo LabSystems and The Waters Corporation have announced an agreement
whereby LabSystems will, under license from Waters, provide control of the
Waters 2690 Alliance HPLC systems from the LabSystems series of Chromatography
Data Systems (CDS). LabSystems will develop standard instrument control
interfaces for the Waters 2690 Alliance HPLC systems from its XChrom CDS.
LabSystems will offer this control to all customers worldwide and will also
provide update, maintenance and support services for the control interfaces.
For details, contact LabSystems at 800-719-1853 or surf their web site at
http://www.labsystems.com