Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) announced today the release of a new version of its chromatography data system that enables laboratories to export files in the Allotrope Data Format (ADF), an emerging standard developed by a consortium of pharmaceutical companies.
The Agilent data system, OpenLab CDS ChemStation Edition, is the first to support the new format, designed to standardize data from disparate sources.
The ADF was designed to standardize the collection, exchange, and storage of analytical data captured in laboratory workflows. ADF enables labs to transfer and share data across platforms. It is also expected to enable increased automation, reducing error-prone manual input.
"The development of ADF is an important step toward obtaining faster results and more insight from the data collected and produced within pharmaceutical organizations involved in research, development, and production of chemicals and biomolecules," said John Sadler, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Software and Informatics Division. "It promises to increase data integrity, improve scientific reproducibility, boost efficiencies, enhance searchability, and fast-track the ability to use all the information collected from a given sample."
"This is a really important and exciting milestone for Agilent and Allotrope, the future of data, and the digital transformation of our industry," said Dana Vanderwall, chair of the Allotrope Foundation Board of Directors, and director of Biology and Preclinical IT at Bristol-Myers Squibb, a member of the Allotrope consortium. "Agilent is the first member of the Allotrope Partner Network to develop and launch a commercial product to support the initiative. Commercial solutions in the Allotrope ecosystem are the linchpin of adoption across the industry, so it's great to see a partner like Agilent build on what has been a very high-level engagement in the Foundation, leverage the Foundation and tools, and launch a major product supporting the ADF."
The Allotrope Foundation, an international consortium of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, developed the Allotrope Framework, a suite of software tools that allow software developers to implement a consistent set of data standards into the software that laboratories use to manage their workflows and data. A component of the Allotrope Framework, the Allotrope Data Format (ADF) is a family of vendor and platform agnostic specifications designed to standardize the collection, exchange, and storage of the analytical data captured in laboratory workflows.