Company Announcements

Hach Homeland Security Technologies acquired the Eclox Rapid Response Water Test Kit, featuring the Eclox luminometer and Chemiluminescence Toxicity Test, from Severn Trent Services in January.

In April, Centice completed a $4 million bridge financing from existing investors.

FOSS named wine products and service supplier Gusmer Enterprises its distribution partner for the OenoFoss wine analyzer in North America and Canada.

Canada’s INO (National Optics Institute) partnered with ABB Bomem in April to develop its IR microbolometric technology for the aerospace sector.

Several US Department of Defense agencies awarded Block Engineering $3.3 million in contracts to develop ultra-miniaturized IR spectrometers.

Datacolor’s revenues for the half year ended March 31 declined 29.9%, 26.3% in local currencies, to CHF 26.4 million ($22.9 million) (see IBO 5/31/09) due to the economic downturn. EBITDA was CHF -2.2 million ($1.9 million). Adjusted for one-off costs, EBITDA was CHF -0.6 million ($0.5 million). Industrial sales slowed and consumer sales increased.

In May, Ahura Scientific announced 10 new distribution partners for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Product Introductions

Renishaw introduced the StreamLine Plus Raman imaging system, featuring readout times as short as 6 ms per spectrum.

Skalar Analytical BV launched the BluVision Discrete Analyzer for automated colorimetric analysis, featuring the ability to run 14 different parameters at one time without operator intervention.

Picarro introduced the G1301-m flight-ready trace gas analyzer for greenhouse gases. It is designed for continuous operation at altitudes up to 30,000 ft (10,000 m) and with climb/descent rates as high as 1 km/minute.

Applied NanoFluorescence introduced the NS2 NanoSpectralyzer for carbon nanotubes. It measures NIR fluorescence, NIR absorption and Raman.

Merck KGaA Chemicals launched the Spectroquant Pharo 100 and 300 spectrophotometers.

Horiba Jobin Yvon introduced the MM-16 NIR spectroscopic ellipsometer for thin-film characterization. It can determine thicknesses, optical constants and the optical bandgap of materials in the 515–1000 nm range.

Hach released the DR 3800 Benchtop Spectrophotometer for wavelength scans in the entire visible range.

PerkinElmer launched the Spectrum 100S FT-IR spectrometer, featuring a 50% increase in sensitivity over the previous Spectrum 100 model.

ICx Technologies launched the Fido Verdict, a palm-sized Raman spectroscopy instrument.