Standardization Will Reduce Costs, Enhance Interoperability, Broaden Customer Choice
SANTA CLARA, Calif., and KYOTO, Japan, May 28, 2013. - Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) and Shimadzu Corp. today announced they will exchange RapidControl.NET (RC.Net) instrument drivers. Shimadzu's adoption and support of Agilent's RC.Net driver standard strengthens RC.Net as an emerging open industry standard for instrument control across multiple data systems.
Through this exchange, Shimadzu LabSolutions and Agilent OpenLAB Chromatography Data Systems will control both manufacturers' instruments, providing customers more freedom of choice in instrumentation for their laboratories, regardless of which CDS they use. In addition, customers can preserve their investment in workflow definition and supporting operating procedures.
"At Agilent, we are fully committed to bringing instrument control solutions for the most popular chromatography instruments into OpenLAB CDS," said Bruce von Herrmann, general manager of Agilent Software and Informatics. "Our agreement with Shimadzu represents the continued cooperation of both companies. OpenLAB CDS customers will now be able to utilize the features and functions of their Shimadzu instrumentation on our newest CDS product."
"At Shimadzu, we are dedicated to providing flexible instrumentation and software solutions for our customers," said Masami Tomita, Shimadzu general manager of LC Business Unit, Life Science Business Department. "We are pleased to announce that Shimadzu instruments are now able to be controlled by Agilent OpenLAB CDS. Our collaboration will provide a more integrated solution for customers who require a single CDS product to provide seamless multi-vendor control of all instruments in their laboratory. This will allow any CDS which supports RC.Net to control our instruments. Shimadzu's adoption and implementation of the RC.Net standard will also enable Agilent instruments to be controlled by Shimadzu LabSolutions CDS."
The new Shimadzu RC.Net drivers will initially support Shimadzu's Nexera and Prominence HPLC lines. These drivers will be made available on Agilent's OpenLAB CDS later this month. Shimadzu's LabSolutions CDS will gain the Agilent HPLC RC.Net drivers, supporting Agilent's 1100, 1200, 1260 and 1290 series instruments. This integration is expected to occur in August.
For GCs, the new Shimadzu RC.Net drivers will initially support Shimadzu's GC-2010/Plus and GC-2014 product lines in exchange for Agilent's GC RC.Net drivers supporting Agilent 6890, 7820 and 7890 series instruments. The expected timing for completing this development is late 2013.
For more information about Shimadzu's LabSolutions chromatography systems, visit www.shimadzu.com/an/data-net.
For more information about Agilent OpenLAB CDS, visit www.chem.agilent.com/en-US/Products-Services/Software-Informatics.
About Shimadzu Corporation
Founded in 1875, Shimadzu Corporation, a leader in the development of advanced technologies, has a distinguished history of innovation built on the foundation of contributing to society through science and technology. Shimadzu maintains a global network of sales, service, technical support and applications centers on six continents, and has established long-term relationships with a host of highly trained distributors located in over 100 countries. For more information visit www.shimadzu.com.
About Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is the world's premier measurement company and a technology leader in chemical analysis, life sciences, diagnostics, electronics and communications. The company's 20,500 employees serve customers in more than 100 countries. Agilent had revenues of $6.9 billion in fiscal 2012. Information about Agilent is available at www.agilent.com.
Contact:
Eric Endicott, Agilent
+1 408 553 2005
[email protected]
Kevin McLaughlin, Shimadzu
+1 410 381 1227
[email protected]