Singapore: Agilent Technologies and Shimadzu are going to 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 (CDS) 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.

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 2013. For gas chomatographers (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.

Mr Masami Tomita, general manager, LC Business Unit, Life Science Business Department, Shimadzu, said that, "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."