Spider Group Partners With Surety to Deliver Web-Based Electronic Lab Notebook

Surety LLC, the leading provider of trusted data integrity solutions, and SpiderGroup, a best of breed company, designing and developing advanced software solutions to support the business needs of international organizations, today announced that they will collaborate to integrate Surety’s AbsoluteProof(R) Trusted 3rd Party Digital Time Stamping service into E-LabBook, a secure, web-based Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) system the SpiderGroup is developing for 3C Research. Through the integration of Surety’s technology, E-LabBook will provide scientific researchers at 3CR, a collaborative research center targeting digital media and communications, with a flexible and secure means of storing information gathered through experimental research. The E-LabBook system has been designed to fulfill four key areas; proof of first to invent, proof of invention, proof of ownership and proof against scientific fraud.

“We went to SpiderGroup with the challenge of building an easily accessible, full-featured e-notebook solution that could manage content in a web service-model without sacrificing security,” said Peter Horne at 3C Research. “What they came back with is E-LabBook, an online document safe used to collect and protect our high-value intellectual property. The browser-based application provides the flexibility and convenience we require to support globally disparate multi-site researchers. Surety’s trusted third party solution establishes time of IP creation to defend first-to-invent or first-to-file claims, as well as protecting the integrity of the digital audit trail for regulatory compliance.”

The E-LabBook application has a web-based front end, making it accessible through a web-browser such as Internet Explorer and Netscape. All the data is stored in a SQL database providing a centralized store of the information. The open architecture of AbsoluteProof is critical to the application as it allows for the notarization of any document regardless of format including CAD drawings, LIMS records, design diagrams, device readings, email, and audit logs. This provides irrefutable evidence of the authenticity of the document, the time and date of creation and the identity of the researcher.

“This project brings together two innovative organizations with an unsurpassed understanding of information technologies and how to combine them to deliver competitive advantage and protect it,” stated Tom Klaff, CEO of Surety. “We look forward to working with the SpiderGroup to produce one of the first flexible and secure web-based electronic research solutions available.”

About 3C Research

3C Research Ltd is a unique collaborative research center targeting and exploiting the convergence between the worlds of communications, computing and multi-media content production, storage and distribution. Their vision is to create a center which fosters innovative digital media and communications products and services, available on-demand and on the move and enhances the competitiveness of the converging UK creative industries. Based in Bristol, 3CR is funded by the DTI for 7.6m pounds Sterling, combined with contributions of 4.5m pounds from commercial partners. 3CR’s research program covers digital media and communications and brings together a dynamic mix of academic research excellence with production creativity and high technology expertise from a wide range of commercial partners, including Toshiba, ST Microelectronics, Granada Media, QinetiQ, and Thales.

About SpiderGroup

In 2004, James Cook and Dan Hancock joined forces with fellow former Bristol graduates Ben Nichols and Chris Falconer to create the SpiderGroup, a unique Bristol-based team supported by a close and trusted partnership of financial and business advisors and non-executive directors. This team shares a common belief in the ability of leading edge technology — appropriately applied — to deliver competitive advantage and business performance to the small and medium enterprise market. They also share a belief in their clients’ goals and aspirations, and in the SpiderGroup values which are a day-to-day essential in setting and meeting customer expectations: Listening – Knowledge – Imagination – Delivery – Security – Support – Trust – Simplicity.

About Surety, LLC

Headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, Surety, LLC is the leading provider of data integrity services — generating irrefutable evidence of exactly what electronic records were created and precisely when. The company provides mission-critical technology for applications that protect intellectual property rights, manage corporate governance initiatives, and help drive regulatory compliance. Built on patented technology and secure hashing algorithms, Surety’s AbsoluteProof(SM) is the only long-lived, cryptographically verifiable data integrity service in the world. Founded by two leading Bellcore scientists, the company has been helping customers prove the integrity of their electronic records since 1994.

Surety, AbsoluteProof, Digital Notary, and Guaranteeing Trustworthy Electronic Records are trademarks or registered trademarks of Surety, LLC in the United States and other countries. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.