laboratory informatics
facilitate that integration by deploying our solution on our client’s servers, rather than try to marry one cloud solution with a raſt of on- premises systems.’ Addressing potential deployment issues,
Autoscribe’s Matrix Gemini LIMS is built on a dual web and Windows interface, and so can be run on a conventional desktop or via a web browser. Tis gives the firm the flexibility to address just about any client requirement with respect to how and where it is deployed, Boother comments. ‘Our Matrix Gemini LIMS can be installed inside the client’s firewall within their own informatics infrastructure, or hosted by a third party server specialist. We hosted our first system about six or seven years ago, and that partnership, based on a quarterly licence fee, has just been renewed again.’
Whatever the delivery mechanism, the functionality of the LIMS is important ➤
SaaS business models represent far more attractive options, particularly for the SME sector. SaaS takes less time to set up for each client, and typically requires predictable monthly or annual subscription costs that the company can accommodate into its budget. From an accounting perspective, shiſting from making a huge capital expense (capex) to predictable operational expense (opex) is much more attractive and less risky because of the tax implications. Opex like SaaS LIMS are fully tax-deductible in the year they are made, unlike capex, which are most oſten depreciated over five to 10 years.’ Te GoInformatics platform includes
LIMS, electronic laboratory notebook (ELN), project management, and resource
A CLOUD PLATFORM NEEDS TO CO-EXIST WITH A COMPLEX ARRAY OF OTHER APPLICATIONS
management solutions that in combination act as a holistic platform for R&D and manufacturing in a range of sectors; these include animal health and nutrition, crop science, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, biofuels and contract research. Te company’s aim was to develop an informatics infrastructure that was simple and easy to configure by SMEs, but also flexible enough to accommodate themore sophisticated requirements of larger institutions. ‘However complex those requirements, with SaaS solutions such as ours, clients get a dedicated support team
10 SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING WORLD
that can address issues quickly, develop new functionality, or tweak the configuration, oſten within hours. When utilising a SaaS LIMS, the client will no longer need to submit support ticket requests into their oſten overburdened in-house IT team. More importantly, they won’t have to wait days or weeks for issues to be addressed,’ Medina pointed out.
Experimenting in the cloud Te SME sector has been quick to embrace the cloud culture, and the big industry players, while slower to transition, are now also implementing cloud solutions at a faster pace, Medina continued. ‘It’s been an educational effort to get the multinationals to move into the cloud, but they have experimented by adopting SaaS for non-mission-critical activities. Success in these areas has encouraged the adoption of cloud and SaaS solutions for more critical functions, such as LIMS or ELN, which handle sensitive data.’
Not for every business Core Informatics offers a complete package of cloud-based LIMS, ELN, SDMS, and Collaboration modules to support biologics workflows and small-molecule drug development, but customers also have the option of deploying the Core Informatics soſtware at their own facilities, Uzzo explained. ‘It makes sense for us to offer this option. Not every business wants to make a move into the cloud, perhaps because a cloud platform would need to co-exist and integrate with a complex array of other applications that are running on-premises. In some instances it’s easier to
Hosted services for sensitive data In fact, most of Autoscribe’s clients have, to date, shown relatively little interest in having their LIMS deployed from a cloud server, or financed as SaaS, Boother noted. Scientists do still perceive cloud security as an issue, he believes, and this is one reason why, from Autoscribe’s perspective, the uptake of hosted services for informatics platforms that handle sensitive data has been relatively slow. ‘It is only more recently that some of our US-based clients have started to take up the option of hosted soſtware as an alternative to on- premises implementation. Customers in the UK are following on slightly behind those in the US.’ Autoscribe uses tried and trusted third-
party server specialists in the US and UK to serve clients who do opt for hosted platforms. ‘Offering Matrix Gemini LIMS as both a web and desktop solution means that cloud isn’t something that we see as make or break when it comes to attracting new clients,’ Boother stressed. ‘It’s effectively the same product however it is deployed, whether hosted on the client’s own server or through a third party server. What is far more important, from our perspective, is the functionality of our LIMS, its architecture, and how we can meet all the client’s informatics requirements, across its organisation. We just wait to be instructed on how to implement it.’l
In her second article, to be published in the Feb/ Mar 2016 issue of Scientific Computing World, Sophia Ktori will look at how both vendors and customers of informatics systems have to change their IT culture under the influence of cloud computing.
@scwmagazine l
www.scientific-computing.com
Autoscribe
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