Charles Hawker, PhD

In late 1996 the NCCLS (now CLSI) established an Area Committee on Automation and initiated the development of prospective standards for laboratory automation to facilitate the more rapid growth of automation systems and components. One of the program's main goals was to enable laboratory users to select elements from more than one vendor or to connect analyzers from one vendor to the automation equipment of another vendor, a concept generally referred to as "plug and play." The initial NCCLS program resulted in five approved standards that were published in 2000-2001. These five standards, listed below, became important reference guides for all vendors of laboratory automation, for vendors of analyzers wishing to enable their systems to be connected to the automation systems of their prospective customers and for laboratories interested in purchasing automation systems.

Read the full article as published in the September 2006 edition of ADVANCE for Administrators of the Laboratory.
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