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Technology

You won’t find an enterprise-grade informatics platform that’s easier to deploy, maintain, and use than LabVantage. That’s because we offer the most modern integrated LIMS, leveraging the latest industry-standard technologies.

LabVantage is 100% browser-based, generating a multitude of advantages:

  • Pure HTML5 compliant user access, available from any device, anywhere
  • Zero footprint means no client programs, applets, or plugins to install, validate or manage
  • Options for Cloud-hosting via Amazon Web Services or your Cloud provider, or on-premise
  • Simplified implementation and upgrades

Resources

LabVantage is a Java EE-based solution supporting a variety of application servers from IBM, Oracle, and Red Hat, as well as modern databases from Oracle and Microsoft. It deploys ready for integration with instruments and other business systems. It can be centrally hosted for global deployment, supporting thousands of simultaneous users.

See our LabVantage 8.8 Technical Overview for key technical features, infrastructure requirements including network configurations, and supported software.

  • Presentation tier consisting of the web browser (Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome or Apple Safari)
  • Application tier consisting of a JEE server (Oracle WebLogic, Red Hat JBoss, or IBM WebSphere)
  • Data tier consisting of a database server (Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server). Reports may be executed from LabVantage on the application server tier using Jaspersoft JasperReports, or from a dedicated report server tier using SAP Business Objects or similar.

LabVantage runs in a web browser on the client tier. The application does not require any browser plug-ins or applets, which significantly simplifies deployment and system validation. The client requires approximately 12kB of TCP/IP bandwidth making it a perfect solution for wide area access from a centrally hosted server.

The application server is LabVantage’s main processing component and can be CPU and network intensive. Therefore, when configuring the application server, organizations should consider the number of concurrent users and the complexity of the operations the solution will have to perform. Performance and reliability can be improved by adding servers in a clustered installation, which uses load balancers to route client requests to multiple application servers within the cluster. If one or more servers fail, client requests are automatically routed to other servers within the cluster so there is no interruption in service.

LabVantage supports Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server, two industry-leading database management systems. The database server is the repository for all LabVantage data, including metadata generated from LabVantage Web Page Designer, the user interface configuration tool within LabVantage. This metadata is used to drive the runtime architecture and determine business logic execution.

LabVantage has been designed to do most of its processing on the application server. As a result, the database server is not CPU intensive; rather, it tends to be I/O intensive. Therefore, a high throughput disk sub-system is recommended. When configuring the database server, organizations should consider the number of concurrent users, the amount of historical data, and which database engine will be used. Database connections are pooled by the application server, so database-level connection pooling is typically not required or recommended.

LabVantage supports several options for the analysis and reporting of data. Out of the box, LabVantage uses JasperReports which executes from the application server. Additionally, SAP Business Objects XI is also supported, and typically runs on a dedicated reporting server tier. Finally, any reporting solution that can retrieve data via the LabVantage web services is also supported.

LabVantage provides an interface to Seagull Scientific Bartender label and barcode printing software to generate barcode labels.

LabVantage has a framework to enable integration of instruments and systems across the enterprise. This includes a data integration platform for instruments and system interfacing as well as web services for system interoperability.

The LabVantage technical architecture is exceptionally well suited to running in a virtual computing infrastructure, and most LabVantage customers run their system in this manner to decrease cost, encourage self-service, and improve options for scalability. Additionally, many cloud vendors such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure offer virtualized server environments, relational databases, load balancers, and more on a subscription basis. Where you choose to run your LabVantage software – on-premise, cloud hosted, or via SaaS – is entirely up to you! Simply verify the environment is running the software and versions that comply with our supported software.

To deliver a solid ROI and lower the total cost of ownership, LabVantage developers built an integrated platform that is modern, scalable, and expandable – with an embedded ELN, LES, and SDMS that, together with LIMS, creates a seamless, productive work environment for users.