ChemSW Announces IMCS Live™, an Affordable Pay-As-You-Go Version of their Popular Instrument Maintenance & Calibration Software

Fairfield, California, April 10, 2008 – ChemSW, Inc. is proud to introduce IMCS Live, a new pay-as-you-go version of their best-selling, best-of-breed Instrument Maintenance & Calibration System. IMCS Live is the newest application in the family of web-delivered vertical offerings from ChemSW, and provides users with an enterprise-level solution at an eminently affordable low cost of entry.

An Instrument Maintenance and Calibration System, IMCS Live is a robust laboratory equipment calibration tracking and management software program that allows labs to automatically schedule periodic maintenance and inspection events, as well as track, monitor and report those events using an extensive array of customizable reports. It provides a central repository for calibration and maintenance records, delivering unmatched flexibility in maintaining, visualizing, and reporting instrument history, including instrument type, identification, location, user, as well as problem status and history.

As a web-delivered Software as a Service (SAAS) solution, IMCS Live enables the organization to replace large upfront fees and costs with periodic all-in-one subscription payments at a fraction of the price, thus enabling expenditures to be shifted from fixed costs to variable costs and increase the flexibility of cost structures.

More on IMCS Live

“There is tremendous overhead involved with servicing the desktop environment, and that’s why there is such a tremendous benefit to utilizing a web-delivered pay-as-you-go service,” explains Brian Stafford, President of ChemSW. “IMCS Live requires no up-front capital costs. There are no licenses to buy, no support costs, no maintenance agreements. It’s ideal for companies that can’t meet the upfront costs of the licensed version, only have the budget for service-oriented solutions, or need a solution that doesn’t tie up their IT [Information Technology] resources.”

“What’s really great,” he adds, “is that IMCS Live is based on a tried and proven product that’s been available for more than a decade with thousands of satisfied users. In addition, companies don’t have to commit to one version or the other, but can switch back and forth between combined deployments, or can start with IMCS Live and move inside the company’s firewall later as needs change. Whatever works best, whatever makes most sense for the company and its users.”

Organizations still relying on spreadsheet software to track laboratory equipment maintenance and calibration records aren’t taking advantage of the robust functionality that a specialized program like IMCS Live can deliver.

For instance, using spreadsheet software to manage maintenance and calibration records is awkward at best, because such generic solutions do not have the application-specific functionality that a program designed for the actual task provides. And, that solution doesn’t take into account whether paper-based records are also maintained, thus increasing the chance for errors. Using application-specific software not only makes sense from a productivity standpoint, it makes sense to combine all instrument and equipment maintenance and calibration records into a single accurate repository which can also ensure that the entire system – from records to equipment – can be validated uniformly and consistently with the least amount of effort.

IMCS Live delivers much more than just a database for managing equipment maintenance records and tracking problem history. IMCS Live allows the lab unlimited categorization of instrumentation and equipment; i.e., the lab can easily define and bundle equipment into assemblies. For instance, an HPLC is actually a system, not a single instrument. It is comprised of pumps, detectors, recorders, columns, injectors, a computer, etc., each of which needs some form of maintenance and/or calibration. IMCS Live can address each such system as a whole set, or separate out the parts into different sets. With IMCS Live, the lab can define the process or assembly, designate different HPLCs for different processes, and easily switch components between assemblies – all while maintaining the integrity of the individual component’s maintenance and calibration history. In fact, all equipment can be assigned to a new assembly and still the lab will be able to instantly access the correct calibration history records. Such flexibility and record integrity is unmatched by any other calibration records management solution.

Not only do instrument records have infinite flexibility with IMCS Live, but research information can be attached to the instrument or component. For instance, users can attach chromatograph profiles to a particular column. Column types can be added and profiles created for column data such as PH, gradient, best solvents for a purpose, etc.

“IMCS Live is easy to implement and delivers a rapid time-to-value return on your investment since you don’t need to install or maintain servers, networking equipment, or security products,” Stafford points out. “Just set it up, determine the number of full access and read-only users, and access it from your web browser. It’s that simple. Now, authorized users anywhere in the company, anywhere in the world can access secure instrument maintenance and calibration information any time they want.”

Continuous support and seamless upgrades to new features and functionality, customer support, and other operational services are all included instead of being treated as incremental costs. Major new product releases and application improvements are literally made overnight during off-hours, resulting in minimal service disruption.

ChemSW

Founded over a decade ago, ChemSW is a leading provider of chemical and biochemical inventory management systems, MSDS systems and other chemistry laboratory software and services. ChemSW’s wide range of products streamline laboratory processes and reduce chemical purchasing and disposal costs. ChemSW supports over 10,000 customers in more than 40 countries throughout the world.

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If you would like more information on this exciting new product please feel free to contact us at info@chemsw.com or call us at 707-864-0845.