RENTON, Washington, January 26 /PRNewswire/ --

Microscan, the technology leader for automatic identification in Life Sciences, today announces new products during the Lab Automation conference in Palm Springs, CA. The new solutions are based on machine vision, illumination, and auto ID technologies.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081208/AQM106LOGO)

As the inventor of the laser diode barcode scanner, Microscan was the first company to bring life sciences customers automatic identification and barcode tracking for applications such as lab automation, clinical chemistry, in vitro-diagnostics, and bio-sciences, explains Andy Zosel, Microscan's Director of Product Management. Microscan expanded our technology portfolio in 2D imaging and machine vision inspection.

One of Microscan's new life sciences solutions is the MS-96 Vial Reader, which is a complete traceability solution designed specifically for Lab Automation environments to capture and analyze 96 Data Matrix codes in a single read. The MS-96 Vial Reader provides quick and reliable audit tracking for arrays of solutions and compounds, which can enable efficiency and greater test throughput. Powering the MS-96 Vial Reader is Microscan's new Visionscape(R) machine vision software. The MS-96 user interface displays images of all 96 vials and indicates read and no read status. After the symbols are read, the data can be exported to a database or stored for further analysis by a spreadsheet package.

Machine vision inspection is a powerful tool that can benefit life sciences companies by enabling more areas where efficiencies, cost reduction, or quality improvements can be gained by automating precise inspection, measurement, or gauging tasks, continues Zosel.

In addition to introducing the MS-96 Vial Reader and Visionscape(R) machine vision software, a member of the Microscan Team is teaching the all day course Introduction to Bar Code Technology as part of the Association for Lab Automation's (ALA) short course program.

About Microscan

Microscan is a global leader in technology for precision data acquisition and control solutions serving a wide range of automation and OEM applications. Founded in 1982, Microscan has a strong history of technology innovation which includes the invention of the first laser diode barcode scanner and the 2D symbology, Data Matrix. Today, Microscan remains a technology leader in automatic identification and machine vision with extensive solutions for ID tracking, traceability and inspection ranging from basic barcode reading up to complex machine vision inspection, gauging, and measurement.

http://www.microscan.com

Laura Hoffman of Microscan, +1-425-226-5700, lhoffman@microscan.com; Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081208/AQM106LOGO