ACD/Labs Reveals Next Generation of its Analytical Chemistry Software at Pittcon 2011

ACD/Labs unveils work on ACD/Spectrus, a new software platform poised to dramatically improve scientific productivity and collaboration.

Advanced Chemistry Development, Inc., (ACD/Labs) makes public their development strategy for ACD/Spectrus, a new analytical chemistry software platform based on ACD/Labs’ broadly used data handling software.

Components of the ACD/Spectrus platform will be introduced throughout 2011 and 2012. Spectrus products, fully compatible with current ACD/Labs versions, including automation and enterprise level solutions, will include:

• All-in-one processing, confirmation, and reporting software designed to assist in the interpretation of analytical, chromatographic, and chemical project data
• Powerful databasing for improved storage and retrieval of live spectral and chromatographic data, analytical and chemical information, reactions, and schemas
• The ability to easily customize and integrate with LIMS, ELNs, registry, and other software packages, making Spectrus an integral part of corporate knowledge management infrastructure on the laboratory or organizational level

ACD/Labs is well known for its industry leading chemical and analytical data handling software, advanced computational algorithms, and wide support of instrument vendor formats. “We have spent 16 years translating what we have learned from our customers into enhancing our software. We could continue simply improving our algorithms, but eventually there are diminishing returns,” says Vladimir Shilay, Director, Software Development at ACD/Labs. “Based on what we have learned, and with evolving technology, we felt it was time to critically review our products and take them to the next level. The architecture of the Spectrus platform enables us to dramatically increase interpretive capability resulting in a more accurate, cohesive, and streamlined way of interpreting, managing, and leveraging analytical data.”

True integration between analytical data and chemical structure has been the strength of ACD/Labs software. Such expertise serves as the foundation for ACD/Spectrus, intuitively linking spectroscopic and separations data from disparate instruments and analytical techniques in new, revolutionary ways. For spectroscopists and chemists, this will enable cross-technique analysis for prompt, reliable structure confirmation and accelerated structure elucidation.

The novel database design of ACD/Spectrus will afford users rapid access to legacy knowledge beyond raw data and finalized reports. The progression of project knowledge is preserved by capturing the human interpretation—regardless of instrument, geography, date, or division. Vital pieces of analytical knowledge can be linked together, recording not only the data, but also the chemical context, that was used to move the project forward. By retaining these previously lost interpretations, ACD/Spectrus will become an instrumental communication and collaboration resource.
”Spectrus is a direct response to the problem of knowledge management in today’s research environment,” says Daria Thorp, President of ACD/Labs. “It will enable scientists to achieve greater productivity through better, quicker insights from their data. The spiraling cost of producing and interpreting information demands a better way to retain and leverage it into knowledge that can foster future research. That way, organizations will see projects and products move ahead faster, towards the marketplace, and this is the end goal for all of us—vendors, manufacturers, and researchers alike.”

For more information about ACD/Spectrus, visit the company article page.