Agilent Technologies Facilitates Third-Party Software Control for Agilent LC Systems

Third-party software developers now can spend far less time and money on R&D, enabling end users to get the exact instrument control capabilities they need with less delay, said Tony Owen, Agilent manager, Software and Services Marketing. This is an example of how Agilent's open systems approach delivers extra value to the science community.



Agilent's ICF contains Agilent 1200 Series LC RC.NET instrument drivers and provides a simple programming interface for third-party software connectivity. The third-party simply develops an adaptor from their own software to ICF to gain full control of current, future and some older Agilent LCs, with no need to write additional instrument control code.



Benefits of the Agilent ICF include:



* support of Agilent's 1100, 1200 and 1290 Infinity LC series LC modules, providing great flexibility;

* the high-level interface is easier to use than current low-level LICOP component support;

* users get a combined system view, which provides much better system status than module-specific views;

* the comprehensive user interface includes high-value functions such as method editing, instrument status and instrument configuration; and

* a simple update routine makes possible the fast and simple support of new modules and enhancements.



The Agilent ICF provides the convenience of instrument control without the need for deeper knowledge of underlying hardware and firmware. Agilent ICF also provides integrated online help, facilitates localization into a variety of languages, and accommodates method audit trails.