Leading antibody producer, AbD Serotec provides a wide-range of information externally via its online web catalogue and internally for scientific staff located throughout Europe and America. The company's main headquarters, located in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, serves more than 50 countries worldwide with a portfolio of over 4,000 high quality antibodies and related reagents for vital immunological research.

Staff at AbD Serotec pride themselves on providing a proactive customer-focused service to support research into an enormous range of medical conditions that include critical blood disorders such as AIDS, leukaemia and lymphomas. AbD Serotec also provides a free antibody location service so that if the antibody of choice is not directly available, the company will recommend appropriate suppliers.

Mr Morris Gillis, AbD Serotec’s Marketing Manager explains, "Six years ago, in order to manage our enormous bank of data more efficiently, we contacted Oxford Computer Consultants (OCC) to analyse our existing IT infrastructure. At the time, we were looking for a new IT partner to help us rationalise the large data sets we provide our customers."

Selecting the best technology was no easy task, especially given the complexity and frequent updates to the antibody catalogue. The key aim was to provide distributors and customers with accurate data at the touch of a button. Dr Reynold Greenlaw, Senior Consultant at OCC says, "Our original solution used ASP to integrate AbD Serotec’s existing website with their head office MS Access 2000 databases, thus preserving the public web pages. AbD Serotec and OCC then started to build new search facilities and interactive web pages covering AbD Serotec’s entire range of products."

Now, OCC is supporting the integration of their product catalogue with MorphoSys, AbD Serotec's parent company. Data is held in two synchronized SQL Server 2005 databases in Oxford and Munich and will be delivered to the web site using ASP.NET 2.0 technology. With such a large product range, the search mechanism is of particular importance.

Mr Gillis adds, "The user simply enters part of the name, specificity or target species of antibody via the website and the database retrieves relevant descriptions with comments, images and catalogue numbers for easy ordering. The software’s flexibility and simple design means antibodies can easily be located and purchased online."

OCC also provided software to manage thousands of subscribers to AbD Serotec’s regular e-mail newsletters. In describing the benefits of implementing the new online database, Mr Gillis concludes, "I think this is an excellent example of effective exploitation of IT in terms of improved service delivery. Our new technology speeds and enhances the service we can offer our customers and saves staff time, representing a great return on investment."