CLC bio Expands Software Trial for Mini Next-Gen Sequencers

July 7, 2011

By Kevin Davies 

July 7, 2011 | Anticipating a flood of new customers flocking to the next-generation sequencing (NGS) space with the 2011 launch of three dynamic new bench top sequencing instruments, Danish software company CLC bio is extending a new offer for potential clients to test its flagship NGS software.   

Typically, CLC bio offers a 14- to 30-day evaluation window for its Genomics Workbench software suite, which provides sequence annotation and analysis tools for genomics, transcriptomics and epigenomics data. But for customers of three new bench top sequencers -- the Personal Genome Machine from Ion Torrent, the GS Junior from Roche/454, and the MiSeq from Illumina, slated for commercial launch later this year – CLC bio will extend that no-strings-attached evaluation period to a full six months.  

“Anyone who buys a new bench top sequencer will get six months evaluation of Genomics Workbench,” says CLC bio’s head of communications, Lasse Goerlitz. “That gives them a really good chance to get the machine up and running and to get it into production. It will also provide a good amount of time for them to evaluate if this is the right software tool.”  

Another advantage is that the extended trial period will create less overhead for new customers, who won’t have to worry about the software investment straight away. “With these bench top sequencers, we see new organizations coming in that don’t have a vast experience with sequencing projects. We think it will allow these organizations a good chance to see if our Genomics Workbench is relevant or not,” says Goerlitz. 

Goerlitz says CLC bio’s Genomics Workbench is platform independent, supporting all the native file formats of the major manufacturers. “We specialize in analysis for each platform. We make sure our algorithms and platform fits all of them,” he said. 

The flurry of new bench top sequencers has reduced the turnaround times for a sequencing run from a week or more to just hours, says CLC bio director of global sales, Michael Seidelin. “That, along with a lower initial investment, has meant a remarkable increase in the types and numbers of organizations that are entering the sequencing space. Many of the organizations with these new sequencers currently lack the in-house resources to adequately address their next bottleneck: How to analyze the sequencing data? This is where we would like to help.” 

Organizations and researchers interested in applying for a free 6-month license can find more details at www.benchtopseq.com.