The Column - March 2007 - (Page 12)

Market Trends and Analysis The Column www.thecolumn.eu.com March 2007 Market Profile: LIMS A look at the latest trends in laboratory information management system (LIMS). Without a doubt, today’s laboratories are Regional Distribution of LIMS Survey Respndents Japan, Asia more sophisticated, generate large amounts Pacific 2% of data and heavily rely on electronic data collection and tracking via a laboratory information management system (LIMS). It is Europe a wonder how laboratories function and stay 26% organized without one. A LIMS allows a laboratory to manage North America 65% both logistic and analytical data, along with Latin America Other 9% ROW having the ability to interface with corporate 7% reporting software, instruments and a host of other software modules. The LIMS has become a necessity for both small and large companies to allow its users to obtain, store, manage, retrieve and report laboratory data. LIMS products in the market vary widely in cost, sophistication and industrial focus. Companies can opt to design a LIMS to suit their exact needs with respect to their become increasingly important over the years, partly because internal processes, instruments and general operation from the of the magnitude of LIMS installations and the vital role they ground up. However, this all comes at a premium. Instead, play in everyday laboratory decisions. many companies are abandoning their The graph shows the regional distribution of respondents to in-house developed LIMS for commercial systems. the survey. North America represented the largest segment of While vendors offer generic LIMS packages that can be respondents with 65%. Europe and Japan/Asia Pacific customized for any laboratory, LIMS vendors are also offering combined for 28% of the respondents, while the Latin America “off the shelf” solutions, which address vertical markets by and the rest-of-world accounted for 7%. integrating more functionality into the core software. Because The data was extracted from SDi’s Tactical Sales and off the shelf products are designed for a particular industry, Marketing (TSM) report Labs on LIMS 2007. laboratory function and/or application, users do not need to For more information contact Glenn Cudiamat, vice-president spend as much time customizing the LIMS. This means users of Research Services, Strategic Directions International Inc., can “Go Live” much quicker. 6242 Westchester Parkway, Suite 100, Los Angeles, In a recent survey from Strategic Directions International, California 90045, USA, over 650 LIMS users were asked to indicate the top criteria tel: +1 310 641 4982, fax: +1 310 641 8851 when choosing a LIMS vendor. The most frequently mentioned e-mail: cudiamat@strategic-directions.com criteria were customer and technical support, reputation and a website: www.strategic-directions.com company’s long-term stability/reliability. These criteria have Author: Glenn Cudiamat E-mail: cudiamat@strategic-directions.com 12 http://www.thecolumn.eu.com http://www.strategic-directions.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Column - March 2007

Contents
News
Zosimus
Market Trends and Analysis
Radioactive Chromatography: What is the Smallest Detectable Peak?
Automated Analysis and Data Evaluation of Explosives' Residues
Q&A

The Column - March 2007