AN UPDATE ON LABORATORY INFORMATION MANAGEMENT-SYSTEMS

The realization that a laboratory is an effective information generato r within an organization has begun to influence the functions required of a laboratory information management system (LIMS): different labor atories require different functions. The trends in general computing s uch as open systems, adoption of relational database technology, and t he use of more efficient development languages, are also impacting on the development of LIMS. These trends, plus the development of standar ds for both LIMS and analytical data interchange, will allow the devel opment of systems that are quicker to implement, easier to maintain an d meet the business need better.