Sage-N Research Introduces Sorcerer's Shield Program
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Sage-N Research, Inc. has introduced the Sorcerer's Shield subscription program for new and existing customers of its Sorcerer Protein Identification appliance who need continuous system availability in the event of a failure, and who wish to keep their systems current with new software.
Sage-N Research claims that, unlike other maintenance programs that cover individual software or hardware components, the Sorcerer's Shield program does not require the complex task of first localizing the problem area, which extends the Sorcerer platform's strength in being easy to set up and use.
With Sorcerer's Shield, the downtime in high-throughput proteomics analysis environments is minimized: if a system needs to be shipped to Sage-N for repairs or hardware upgrades, the customer can obtain an equivalent replacement system temporarily, which will either be a loaned unit on site, or through online access to a private dedicated Sorcerer resource.
Sorcerer, which is a compact, integrated appliance, has the advantage that it is generally robust, but in the case of failure, it is easy to ship back the whole system.
Many other system configurations for high-throughput analysis, such as PC clusters, are susceptible to software or hardware node failures that are hard to analyze and are severe in their impact.
Since such systems cannot be readily moved as a whole for upgrades or repairs, it requires time and expertise for on-site diagnosis before the failed component can be replaced, thus exacerbating downtime.
Sorcerer's Shield is designed to offer customers access to new software and firmware updates and upgrades for Sorcerer Proteomics Edition software, thereby maintaining the value of their investment.
Recent updates have included integration with the Institute for System Biology's Trans-Proteomic Pipeline software and more efficient processing of protein sequence databases.
A major upgrade, Proteomics Edition v3.0, is planned for early 2006, and all software and firmware upgrades starting with this release will be available only to Sorcerer's Shield subscription customers.
The Sorcerer's Shield program is renewed on a yearly basis for up to five years, at a standard price, currently $5500 per year, extending the limited warranty for a fixed time that is provided with the base Sorcerer appliance.
At approximately 10% of the system cost per year, it offers the hardware replacement protection and covers all software and firmware updates and upgrades to the base Proteomics Edition platform. Also included are unlimited email and phone technical support.
